Published on 12, July, 2020
I notice that so many people photograph everything and catalogue thier lives and curate them via this medium. I don't take photographs even when I have a camera and I've not had one for over a decade and really dislike photo's of myself. Other people find my lack of photos strange, my lack of curation and cataloguing strange, whre as I find their need to do this strange. One of ther reasons I don't take photo's is I find it stops me being in the moment, it's an interuption to an experience I'll never have fully again, I'll have a visual reminder of an experience not fully experienced and lived. To me it seems to be living vicariously through images whilst being unmindful of the time and place and the feeling evoked.
I also wondered how people would cope if we had a big tech outage and photographing everything was no longer an option because we'd have to go back to 35ml film camera's and either have our own dark rooms to process them or send them off to be comercially processed?
I am not an avid photographer, but I do greatly enjoy occasionally looking at the collection of photographs I have taken over the years and reminiscing. In my case, it can result in pleasant memories I may have forgotten about to come flooding back.
When I do take photographs, I like to allow myself time to also be in the moment and see things with my own eyes, as opposed to solely looking through a camera lens.
Although I can tolerate looking at photographs of myself that were taken when I was a lot younger, I am not so keen when people want me to pose for photographs. This is mainly because I can feel self-conscious, and also because I often think I look awful when I see the results. If I happen to be at an event and am aware of people milling around taking photos, I am that person who will intentionally turn my face away from the camera(s).
I'm the other person deliberately trying not to be photographed, lol, people get so wound up about me not wanting to be photographed, its like they feel they have a right to take photo's of whatever and whoever they want. I get that sometimes you will just part of a background and they're not trying to photgraph you, but often at social events people want to take photo's and put them on social media, I don't want my photograph on social media.
It dosen't help that I don't look good in photo's, I don't look like I belong and I look weird, light either falls into me or bounces off me. An ex was into photography and he had a job with all his equipment and different cameras to take a good photo fo me, the only one he did take that really looked like me was with a medium format camera in black and white. It showed every flaw and imperfection in my skin, but somehow captured the real me and was beautiful. My Dad fancied himself a photographer so we had hundreds of photos of me and my Mum standing in front of things. Theres a photo of a girl I who I think is me aged around 13 who I don't recognise, my Mum says its me, but even she sounded unsure, it was probably confusion at being asked who it was.
I can't take good photo's either they're always a bit skew whiff and come out not looking like the thing I was looking at, maybe it's because I have an astigmatism and my eyes don't see the same point in the middle without glasses. I can't seem to take a photo when wearing glasses for some reason.
Do you think people should ask permission when taking photo's especially when they intend to put them on social media with names attached?