The tradition of sitting down together to flip through photographs has been slowly fading aways with the rising number of snapshots taken with smartphones and immediately shared on social media. However, Facebook pages such as regifotok.hu or groups like Hungary on archival photographs (Magyarország régi képeken) and Budapest on archival photographs (Budapest régi képeken) plants this tradition into the virtual. Their popularity showcased by the strikingly large number of followers – Budapest régi képeken has 230.000 while regifotok.hu has 45.000 followers – begs the question of what do these pages mean to people. With the help of László Endre Hajnal and Gábor Schlagmüller, collectors of everyday photographs and the founders of the aforementioned Facebook sites, the second event of Eidolon Club provided an insight into the aim, the operation and the challenges of these photo sharing forums.
How it all begun
Schlagmüller and Hajnal both set up their Facebook pages and groups about a decade ago. While Schlagmüller collects everyday photographs out of personal dedication and nostalgia felt towards snapshots from the 1970s and 1980s, Hajnal’s work is rooted in his anthropological interest and art dealer standpoint. For this reason, the functioning of their sites differ; on regifotok.hu’s Facebook page, Hajnal shares archival material from his own collection; in Schlagmüller’s groups anyone can post their photos as long as they fit the community guidelines controlled by Schlagmüller. Although their work represents slightly different aspects of collecting, they are equally concerned with analogue photographs dating back before the 1990s, as the shift to digital technology around that time brought an entirely different attitude to taking photographs.
Gábor Schlagmüller
When asked about their choices regarding Facebook as their photo sharing platform, they both highlighted its easy communication and community building aspect. Up until a few years back their following was growing dynamically, however, it has slowed down by now due to the changes in Facebook’s algorithm. Schlagmüller recalled how the option of leaving a stream of comments identifying the places or people depicted in the photos opened the possibility for acquiring new knowledge. On the one hand, the collective effort of figuring out when, where or of whom the photos were taken is a huge help to the admins; on the other hand, it provides an exciting, often challenging game for the community brought together by these forums. It is especially the latter that enhanced the general interest in everyday photography; according to Hajnal, more and more people are thrilled by discussing lesser-known parts of local history or old-timer vehicles. Schlagmüller added how their Facebook pages can be understood as alternative platforms for educational debates. As an example, he mentioned how the tension evoked by photos taken of the old National Theatre of Budapest could be openly discussed and hence more-or-less resolved in the community.
László Endre Hajnal
To share or not to share
One of the biggest challenges online forums showcasing everyday photographs must face is the issue of personality rights. Since these sites don’t own the rights to the photos they post on Facebook, their work could become a target of legal procedure. Despite some threats they have received, Schlagmüller and Hajnal could only give an account of a few instances when questions of personality rights arose among their followers. As an example, Hajnal recounted the upheaval the Ilona-series caused. The photographs taken in the 1950s capture a gorgeous young woman named Ilona in intimate settings. Her daringly playful spirit is a performance originally dedicated to the person standing behind the camera; her fiancé, later husband. Although the photographs don’t depict anything that could be directly labelled as ‘inappropriate’, the intimacy shared between subject – Ilona – and observer – her betrothed – sprung up the discussion whether these photographs should be posted online or not. As Hajnal explained, he used his better judgement when selecting the photos he shared with his Facebook-following; he purposefully excluded several snapshots depicting Ilona nude or semi-nude.
The depiction of nudity has become an especially sensitive subject that concerns everyday photographs; Hajnal recalled an instance when one of his archival photos of a young boy wearing swim trunks raised suspicion of paedophilia. However, in Schlagmüller’s experience, the majority of people interested in everyday photographs feel nostalgia and joy when they recognise themselves in one of these snapshots posted on Facebook.
From looking to building
In certain cases, the online sharing of everyday photographs becomes a tool for community building. Hajnal shared the story of a collection of photos he posted in his Facebook-group taken in the 1950s by an office clerk called Mihály Podlupszky.
The photograph was taken in the 1950s in Felvidék, Bajta, by Mihály Podlupszky, source: regifotok.hu
As an enthusiastic and rather talented amateur photographer, he was documenting the life of his hometown in Slovakia called Kamenica Nad Hronom (Garamkövesd in Hungarian) as well as the nearby townships’ Malá Nad Hronom (Kicsind) and Bajtava (Bajta). Hajnal emphasised the importance of such a gesture from an anthropological standpoint; it is rare to find good photographers who at the same time choose their own community as their main subject. Once every person on Budlovszky’s photos was identified due to the help of the online community of regifotok.hu, Hajnal came up with the idea to exhibit the photographs in their places of origin. The exhibition realised back in 2016 was so successful that it motivated the locals to organise group activities to cultivate their traditions. Thus, what started as sharing and looking at photographs, in this case, became the foundation for a stronger and more active community.
This article is a summary from our event titled Eidolon Club vol. 2 – The path of paper-based family photographs to Facebook that was held on May 23, 2024 at the Virág Benedek Ház in Budapest.
All photos were taken by Bence B. Boros.
