The Mug Shot Museum A Virtual Gallery Of Infamy And Intrigue

The origins of the mug shot. Us police departments began taking photographs of people they arrested in the 1850s. Alphonse bertillon, first head of the forensic identification service of the prefecture de police in paris (1893) via wikimedia commons. In the 1880s, alphonse bertillon, an anthropologist and chief of the judicial identification service of france, invented the mug shot, a doubled photographic portrait focused tightly on the head, with one view facing the camera and the other in profile. James brown’s mugshot for disorderly conduct is a classic case of a photographer not understanding the angle of incidence and reflection, making the identification sign nearly illegible.

A mug shot or mugshot (an informal term for police photograph or booking photograph) is a photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is placed under arrest. [1][2] the primary purpose of the mug shot is to allow law enforcement to have a photographic record of an arrested individual to allow for ident. Although some of bertillon’s techniques and theories have fallen into disrepute, he’s credited with standardizing two major advances still in use today: The mug shot and the crime scene photograph. The mug shot was a humdrum but reliable tool for keeping track of suspects and arrests. This fascinating collection illustrates the chronology of mug shots and how they have evolved over time. Arresting images features the two earliest mug shots to exist in a canadian public collection. Display of mug shots at arresting images. The evolution of record keeping and mug shots Bertillon’s mug shot consisted of two photographs—one facing the camera, the other in profile—attached to a written description of physical features and certain measurements, such as the size. These stark, unembellished photos serve a clear purpose in the justice system. We’ll jump into the history, the technique, and the unexpected cultural impact of mug shots. Stick with us to uncover how this form of photography has evolved beyond the precincts and into the public imagination.

These stark, unembellished photos serve a clear purpose in the justice system. We’ll jump into the history, the technique, and the unexpected cultural impact of mug shots. Stick with us to uncover how this form of photography has evolved beyond the precincts and into the public imagination.