Or perhaps expressed more simply: Geography x Photography + Stories = Storiography

And just because math alone doesn’t excite me, I did a little etymological research into the root words of Storiography and their meanings.

The suffix -graphy (the lowest common denominator of geography and photography) is defined as “a combining form denoting a process or form of drawing, writing, representing, recording, describing, etc., or an art or science concerned with such a process: biography; choreography; geography; orthography; photography.”

Physicists will tell you that when we look at an object, what we see is not necessarily the object itself but simply the light reflected/emanated from it (unless, of course, you are looking at a light source, in which case you have the opportunity to see both). With this is mind, photography can be described as the process of recording light. Although, I’d also describe it as a process of recording (something) with light.

Nerdy side note from Etymology Online: The word side photograph was “coined by Sir John Herschel from photo- + -graph “instrument for recording.” It won out over other suggestions, such as photogene and heliograph. Neo-Anglo-Saxonists prefer sunprint.”

Neo-Anglo-Saxonists? Where do you suppose they meet for beer on Friday nights?

This dictionary.com entry describes geography as:

the science dealing with the areal differentiation of the earth’s surface, as shown in the character, arrangement, and interrelations over the world of such elements as climate, elevation, soil, vegetation, population, land use, industries, or states, and of the unit areas formed by the complex of these individual elements.

What’s interesting to me, is that geography as a subject isn’t taught in schools anymore (at least at the elementary, middle or high school levels) – social studies and history are. I think the core subject matter has largely remained the same but the perspective and emphasis has shifted. In geography, the earth is the main focus and it is studied through its manifestations: “climate, elevation, soil, vegetation, population, land use, industries, or states.” In social studies and history, people are the main focus and the earth is, at most, merely a stage.

Small wonder that most people have no idea how to grow a tomato or where most of the ingredients in their shampoo, the materials for their clothes, or the components of their houses come from. From the time we enter school, we’ve been trained to evaluate our life on earth from a narrower (and I dare say, more selfish) people-based perspective and not from an broader, earth-based perspective.

I may have finally stumbled onto my life’s work here. I can’t promise you a smooth, timely or coherent ride, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Copyright: “The Opinga boy”, Library of Congress, Carpenter Collection call number: LOT 11461-1 [P&P]

Stori-huh??? I hear you say.

I’ve always loved stories. As a child, I devoured mythology (Greek, Norse, and Irish) and legends of all flavors, including (but certainly not limited to): The Nibelungenlied, King Arthur, Sherlock Holmes, The Hobbit, Conan of Cimmeria, Dragonlance, and Narnia. I even started writing my own short stories and imagining my own fantasy worlds, spending hours in my room, drawing world maps, making character profiles and book outlines. My fantasy writing culminated in a 20-page (college-ruled!) epic poem that involved Greek gods, medieval knights and a World War II concentration camp (a poem which, thankfully, has not survived to this day).

In college, and much to the chagrin of my McCarthy era grandmother, I discovered comic books and fell in love with the immediacy of pictures to tell a story. Comics nearly ruined print books for me – until I decided the reason textbook reading assignments put me to sleep had less to do with the format (text) than the material itself (boring). I started an original comic with my friend Darryl freshman year (Ninja Squirrel – Body of a Woodland Creature! Heart of a Samurai!) but it too has sadly been lost forever.

So, what’s all this got to do with the picture of two cute Inuit kids above? I hear you ask.

Well, doesn’t it remind you of photographs of my students in Japan?

Asiatic genotype discussions aside, I believe the the similarity might have more to do with the photographer’s genetics. You see, the Inuit picture was taken by my great-great grandfather, Frank G. Carpenter during his Alaskan expedition in 1915-16 (or, and perhaps more likely, by my great-grandmother Frances Aretta Carpenter, who acted as his secretary during that trip). Between the two of them, they wrote nearly 100 books about the world, its people and its stories. Short of the North and South Pole, they traveled to every corner of the earth over a 60 year period and between the two of them, donated over 20,000 photographs, documents, and manuscripts to the Library of Congress.

Which just so happens to be located conveniently right down the street. Well, ok – just about 20 mins down a street about 10 minutes from here.

So I’ve been spending a few days every week at the Library, reserving books and digging through manuscripts. (And I have to confess to feeling a little like Nicolas Cage in National Treasure – I never know what fantastic historical nugget I’m about to unearth!) All this research is for stage one of my big project for 2010: to retrace one of Frank G. Carpenter’s journeys and document how things have (or haven’t changed) through photographs and interviews online and perhaps in book form. Once I’ve done sufficient research, I can begin the second stage (securing funding) and then onto the third stage (undertaking my own journey).

That’s great but isn’t the title of this post What is Storiography?

Yep. Stay tuned for Part Two tomorrow.

Image copyright: From the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs, Carpenter Collection LOT 11453-3, no. 79