Photo Books Take On Facebook

If you are prone to the odd bit of morning after amnesia, checking the photo file on your phone can be the way to re-boot your memory and piece together what actually happened the night before. It is quietly ironic that technology that was once reserved for only the wealthiest of people on very special occasions has become a two-a-penny technology for the amusement of Facebook enthusiasts. The documentary style of photography that is so common on the profiles of social network users is becoming an accepted aesthetic, but how does it match up to the quality of photo that can be found in the Photo books on peoples coffee tables?

You all know the routine. Wake up with a crisp packet stuck to your cheek, still dressed in yesterday's clothes and lying next to your bed rather than in it. It was obviously a great Friday night, if only you could remember what an earth went on... time to check the photos on the phone and log on to Facebook. This ingenious Saturday morning detective work should really be utilised by Scotland Yard, because it never fails to amaze me that one fried egg sandwich later I have worked out who I was with, where we went, what we ate, who we danced with and how we got home, and what time it all happened simply by piecing the pictures together. Like one giant collective memory jigsaw.

Last weekend for example I left work at five (remember that bit) played pool, drank beer (still remember), went to another pub and drank cider (getting hazy now). I then left everyone I was with, went clubbing, drank tequila (no recollection at all) danced on some tables and then staggered home in a three-legged race with my long lost buddy from high school whilst eating a kebab. Without the wonders of the digital camera, I would never have known!

Of course, most of these pictures were posted on Facebook the following day, and amusing as it is, I did hark back to the days of Photo albums and the pictures that ended up in there. Now the days of film have pretty much gone, the album has been replaced with Photo Books, which is akin to an art gallery catalogue and is a really great way to get people to look at your snaps. Getting people to look through photos in an album has always been synonymous with polite boredom, but now the Facebook style social documentary photography has become the norm, Photo Books are set to break the boredom barriers and become exciting additions to the living room coffee table.

Rather than fading flower covered albums with out of focus pictures of Aunty Brenda giving the cat a hug; we will have the dynamism of shocking pink leather Photo Books with pictures of fairies and washing machines in them from some crazy fancy dress party that would make Aunty Brenda blush beyond repair. Page after page of random moments that the memory has conveniently forgot but is evidence of hour upon hour of frivolous fun.

Alas, this is not true. The irony is that people are more willing to put the most embarrassing pictures on public display than in a Photo Book in the privacy of their own home. Photo Books are set to be sacred mementos of more private and personal moments, a true record of wonderful memories. The aesthetics of the photos on social networking sites may be the look du jour, but the content is often throwaway, deleted at the click of a mouse, and a moment that was never remembered gets forgotten.