Práticas Fotográficas do IHGVV e a Produção de Testemunhos Visuais sobre Vila Velha

This article analyzes how photographic practices preceding the incorporation of images into the Historical and Geographical Institute of Vila Velha (IHGVV) shaped visual testimonies about the city. This qualitative, exploratory case study draws on a thematically selected subset of data from a master's dissertation whose underlying research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Espírito Santo. The Institute's photographic holdings were estimated at approximately 30,000 photographs, comprising 800 analog photographs, 25,000 digital photographs, and 4,200 digitized analog photographs. The qualitative analytical corpus comprises documents and photographs examined during fieldwork, observation records, and semi-structured interviews with five members of the Institute's board. The analysis considers authorship, initiative, occasion, purpose, technique, medium, and initial circulation. The results distinguish family, public-community, and contemporary institutional photographic practices and demonstrate that images depicting similar subjects may originate from different actions and provenances. The article concludes that the evidentiary value of photography depends on preserving the relationships between the image, its creator, the activity that gave rise to it, its circulation, and related documents.