This photo of Albert Einstein is seen everywhere these days. I have seen it on magnets, calendars, notebooks and posters. I have the picture on a poster at my house, hanging in my office. I’ve seen the poster so often, but I wondered about the history behind it. Where was it taken? What was happening to make Albert Einstein stick his tongue out so hilariously? Who took the photo?
I turned to the Internet, and found plenty of places where the picture had been placed online. I figured it would be simple to find a website that showed the picture and placed the history of the picture somewhere close beside it. On http://fusionanomaly.net/alberteinstein.html, I got just the opposite.
When I first saw the picture, I was a little disappointed in its size and placement. Personally, the photo is one of my favorites, and I think it should bigger because it’s great! The photo is small and surrounded by white space, with no caption, title, or background information. I think that this site has used the picture as more of a decoration than a subject for information.
The site itself is an unorganized assortment of facts, quotes, and resources. It is hard to navigate because of the excessive scrolling. Famous photos of Einstein, actual book covers, and even a chicken crossing the road are scattered throughout. The site relies on the reader to make connections between the images and the text around them.
The picture of Einstein sticking his tongue is below the quote “"If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it." I assume that Einstein said this, because the site is about him; however, there is no citation for the quote to confirm that assumption. It seems like the text was written beforehand, and the images were placed in an attempt to make the site more visually appealing.
So, I didn’t discover any background information for the picture on this site. I don’t think that was what the author intended to do when he placed the photo. I had to keep searching for the answers.