SCENE OF THE CRIME - SAY CHEESE

A SHORT HISTORY OF CRIME SCENE PHOTOGRAPHY - THE EARLIEST DAYS OF CRIME SCENE PHOTOGRAPHY EVOLVED IN CONSORT WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF JUSTICE POLICIES AND THE FORENSIC SCIENCES. With the advent of photography, it quickly became apparent that this new medium afforded a means of accurately documenting various aspects of a crime scene. Alphonse Bertillon, a French criminologist, was one of the earliest practitioners of the art of crime scene photography. Bertillon developed systems for photo documenting both crime suspects and crime scenes. Even before the dawn of the 20th Century however, Bertillon's reputation had suffered due to his involvement in the unfortunate Dreyfus affair. In the intervening decades, the science of crime scene investigation and forensic photography in particular,has evolved exponentially. One important aspect of crime scene photography is that it freezes time, allowing for later viewing of the crime scene as it existed close to the time the crime took place. Today, trace evidence photography using infrared and ultraviolet light provides even more options.