Thomas Hoehn's Posts
The History of Bunny Ears
We at Kodak take photography very seriously. We also have a reverence for the heritage of the cultural aspects of behavior relative to picture taking. Over the years we have been asked many questions and today we are going to explore one of them. Namely, "When did the bunny ears phenomenon start?" "Bunny ears" being the act of holding up two fingers behind an unsuspecting subject's head to the supposed delight of others in the group.
We pored through the our vast volumes of research kept under lock and key in the Kodak vaults. Here are stored sacred objects that we use to inform future marketing and product development projects.
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The earliest occurrences of bunny ears are found in the caves of sub-Saharan Africa. It is easily seen that this caveman is clearly not paying attention to the task at hand. Perhaps under the influence of some mind altering natural beverage much like hunters of modern day. This cave painting dates from 20,000 BC. Jumping ahead to the Egyptian era here we find multiple references. Pictured here is a statue of Koda-Ho-Tep, known as the "Hi-Jinx Pharaoh," with two of members of his dutiful court.
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The cultural tradition of bunny ears was preserved through the ages of the Pharaohs in hieroglyphic form. This example was excavated in the Valley of the Kings and dates to 1,200 B.C. In Grecian times bunny ears was more formalized. Here the Nike, the Winged Goddess of Victory, is conducting the "laying of the bunny ears" ceremony on the head of an accomplished athlete.
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The Greeks were very serious about this ritual. Those caught doing bunny ears without proper credentials, like being a God, were subjected to harsh punishment. Pictured here is the binding of the bunny ears hand. This was not comfortable although it did make it easier to crack walnuts during snack time. Some Greeks could not resist the temptation. Pictured here are two friends posing for a sculpture. As you can see the figure on the right, Practicus, is pulling a fast one on his buddy, Actepon in 550 B.C.
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It has been said that the Fall of the Roman Empire was due in part to the widespread use of bunny ears. This distracted soldiers during battle and led to some major losses for the Roman Legions. Here Clickus Photillius tries to keep his men focused but three people pictured in the larger view are caught in the act. Can you find them? The scene dates from 100 B.C. Moving ahead more than a thousand years to 1100 A.D., Medieval knights were also transfixed with the bunny ear phenomenon as seen in this stained glass window uncovered by our researchers.
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After the Middle Ages came a long dark period where virtually no references to bunny ears appear. The straight-laced Victorian era of the late 1800's provided a pent up demand for fun and the famed ears started to reappear during the Industrial Revolution. The photo on the left of two people in love from 1916 is a couple that would become my grandparents. My grandmother, what a kidder! Also pictured is a present day photo two of their great-grandchildren. Clearly the bunny ear is a tradition that has stood the test of time. We have data that proves and direct correlation to increased smiles for pictures when bunny ears are present. We have it in a spreadsheet with charts and graphs and everything. We are not able to share this data as it is classified as business confidential. Certain competitors, mostly newbie entrants into the photographic industry, would love to get their hands on this kind of information.
There you have it. Next topic: "Say cheese - How did this dairy product find its way into photography?" Maybe I should save that one for next April 1st. ;-)
Voices from South of the Clouds
Why are these beautiful photos from the Northwest Yunnan Province of China in my blog post? Read on...
There is an interesting photo exhibit called; Voices from South of the Clouds that just opened at the George Eastman House (The International Museum of Photography and Film) in Rochester, New York. There are more than 30 color photographs of life in China's Northwest Yunnan Province and it will be there until May 28th.
The exhibit is described as; "...the result of an innovative project called Photovoice, which was planned and directed by The Nature Conservancy with the support of Kodak and the Ford Foundation. Photovoice integrated photography, local people, and traditional knowledge into the Conservancy's efforts in the Northwest Yunnan Province to protect biodiversity. With cameras and film from Kodak, villagers (many of whom had never used a camera) were asked to take pictures that recorded their lives, culture, and the local environment. The photos were then shared with policymakers to help them make informed decisions about environmental, social, and economic development issues."
The cool thing about it to me is that the people taking the pictures used single-use cameras. A simple approach to bring voice to this region of the world. Some of the people taking pictures had never used a camera before. Others had never even seen themselves in a picture. Pretty cool, huh?
So, for those of you that can't make it to the exhibit I wanted to share a few of the photos from the exhibit via this post. Enjoy!
p.s. Random sighting (or would this be a "siting"?) --> This website is dedicated to the greater good of the preservation of memories through photographs. I am glad Kodak is part of the group to promote this: Save My Memories (savemymemories.org).