Hi there dear reader. I’m glad you are here, since your are my last resort.
Who else could I serve up some philosophical thoughts on photography straight from my beach chair?
What you are reading is a last ditch effort to keep my mind going despite the massive amounts of comfort surrounding me on all sides in this very moment. Let me quickly get to the point before another Pina Colada arrives: photography allows us to capture memories and, if the photo is any good, to preserve the essence of the experience right there and then. But there is more to it.
By capturing reality and preserving this capture as a picture, you make a choice. If you choose badly, you will be stuck with a distorted memento for the rest of your life (or until your hard drive crashes, your photo album is lost in a flood or your cloud storage is vaporised in a nuclear attack).
The choice you make also reflects on you. If you only make pictures of historical buildings, scantily clad blonde Don Juan(ita)s or yourself, this reveals something of your character. I make pictures of dark tunnels. I hope there’s no psychologist who reads this.
So the subject of your picture is important. But it’s also important your subject isn’t just an object. You miss half of what you are trying to preserve if you focus solely on the hard reality. IMHO it’s important to take your time to be in the moment you’re trying to capture. A picture should contain what you see, what you hear, what you feel on your skin, what’s going through your mind and what’s vibing through your bones. It should encompass the complete romance of the reality you’re trying to freeze in time.
Oh no! Another Pina Colada arrived. See you around.
Beautiful thoughts on photography. Tunnels, hey? 😉 Hmmm, I tend to take a lot of photos of windows and doors.h
I have a feeling that I’ve take almost that exact same photo in Oostende (which btw, is the weirdest place I’ve ever visited. I liked it... but you wonder who the town is built for and when is the creepy circus coming...)
I like what you said about capturing the moment. I also see photos as a way of capturing the visual poetry created by life itself. It just a matter of seeing the wholeness of a moment - the way a subject is framed, the momentary landing of a butterfly... it’s life making art.