Crime Scene - Journals

Most crime scene photographs are used for evidence in a court of law; this is because what is seen in the photograph is actually there. All crime scene photographs are accurate and have been taken in a specific way.

Everyone can see a photograph in completely different ways, this is due to how we see and take in the information from the photograph. The viewpoint in which the photograph has been taken is very important, because you are seeing from all different angles. This is why standardisation is very important, if every photograph has been taken in the same way each time and from the same view there is no opportunity to question what the photograph is saying/showing.

We see the crime scene through the eyes of the photograph and the forensics. We have the tendency to want to see these photographs so that it helps us possibly get through a tough situation and to try and prevent whatever may have happened, happening to ourselves. Crime scene photographs can make us have mixed emotions about them because even if we don’t know the people involved, seeing a photograph like these makes the public/viewer think about if it was to happen to someone we know and love.

 

Dead Stuff  (Dark Days: Mystery, Murder, Mayhem (Aperture Magazine 149) (Annie Proulx) 

Photographs dealing with death and the ‘dead’ have originated from earlier days, when adults and children got dressed in their best outfits and were photographed in chairs and sofa as if they were asleep.

A collection of postmortem daguerreotypes and photographs in ‘Sleeping Beauty, memorial photography in America’ by Stanley B.Burns, these photographs show the importance and exactly why these types of photographs should be kept.



Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America



Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America

Photographs from: http://www.klinebooks.com/cgi-bin/kline/23715

Memorial photographs were not beautiful, as some had blood stains and tracks on the face and body. Some of the bereaved families did not accept and did not want to see these photographs; however some memorial photographs were taken for specific families that wanted these.

Andres Serrano, detail from The Morgue



Andres Serrano, detail from The Morgue (Knifed to Death II), 1992

You can clearly see that this person’s fingerprint has been taken due to the death of this person been involved in a criminal enquiry.



Andres Serrano, The Morgue (Fatal Meningitis II), 1992, cibachrome, silicone, plexi-glass, wood frame, 49 1/2” x 60




Andres Serrano, The Morgue (Jane Doe Killed by Police), 1991, cibachrome, silicone, plexi-glass, wood frame, 49 1/2” x 60”

Photographs from: http://bombsite.com/issues/43/articles/1631 

(Dark Days: Mystery, Murder, Mayhem (Aperture Magazine 149) (Annie Proulx) 

Criminal Minded -

(British Journal of Photography December 2010) page 8

Acume Forensics has helped court cases and has secured guilty verdicts in many different police trials using digital techniques, in which these have become well known and accepted.

The first fully interactive courtroom presentations in the UK, were produced by Steven Cole and Mike Dixon, they had worked together at West Yorkshires police Digital imaging unit. This creation could show 3D digital work and moving images to the courtroom. The re-creation of a room or place involved in the crime scene was created from accurate measure of the building if still intact and detail found in photographs and video footage that was shot for the investigation.

The photographs of the deceased that are taken at a crime scene can be mapped on a 3D model by Acume Forensics. This type of media is allowed in court rooms, because crime scene photographs could be seen as misleading and the police and paramedics who when they have tried to rescue someone could have moved and repositioned furniture making the photographs of the scene confusing and not telling the whole story.

(British Journal of Photography December 2010) page 8