As you can see from my previous post I have been quite interested in the Official Astronaut portrait. With the photographs coming from a massive institution that was based in military research this idea of this particular photograph strikes me as something different to a traditional portrait.

These are often the photographs that are shown at service men and women’s funerals when there happens to be a disaster: Almost always in a re-entry disaster the space shuttle is burnt up and completely destroyed. The photograph then takes on a new form as the reality of the person shown in it.

The second thought that strikes me is knowing what came first, the portrait and it’s tradition or the disaster that caused it to be used in a funeral? Perhaps a bit of a chicken and egg situation. I do find myself feeling influenced one way as opposed to the other, but this may be influenced by something that I have seen in cinema – ‘Battleship 2012’ and ‘Armageddon 1998’ being two obvious suggestions.

I am still waiting for my film to come back on this, so keep your eyes on the posts for some pictures!

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