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On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

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Re: On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

#121

Post by gniv »

omoikane wrote: post #78

I find that the act of taking those pictures helps me remember the scene better. It's like back in school days when some professors allowed students to bring a small cheat sheet or card to the exams -- it's not so much the fact that you are allowed to bring auxiliary memory, but the act of preparing those notes helps you study better. I rarely made use of those cheat sheets during exams, and I rarely take the time to…

That's me as well. Stopping and taking a picture, quickly judging the framing and lighting, helps with fixating the scene in my memory as well.

Re: On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

#122

Post by jajko »

__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #99
andrehacker wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was young and easily swayed, I took life advice from a well-known Dutch comedian (Youp van 't Hek) who loved to mock tourists taking those cringe “holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa” photos. The message was clear: tourist photos were tacky, and besides, you could always find a better photo in the gift shop anyway. So for years, I smugly avoided taking photos—too cool for clichés. It only hit me much later th…

I have a friend who refuses to take pictures without people in them. It seemed dumb at first but after several years of pictures piling up I can see he had a pretty good point.

I would frame it differently, since I keep seeing a lot of very old photos of ie glaciers in Chamonix, France area that are very different now and much receded and thinned.

Don't photo (much) things that won't change. Things that change - people, but also landscape to certain level, cars, technology, even some buildings, sure its amazing to look back for you, or anybody else after decades and see the change. Obviously people change the most.

Basic photography advice is to have something alive in each photo. Not 100% but a good rule of thumb.

Re: On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

#123

Post by JKCalhoun »

riffraff wrote: post #112
__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend who refuses to take pictures without people in them. It seemed dumb at first but after several years of pictures piling up I can see he had a pretty good point.

This is old advice, I remember it being framed as "if I wanted a picture of a monument I'd buy a postcard", and postcards basically no longer exist. It made some sense to take pictures of panoramas or art when you could show something to people that could not see it otherwise, but in this era it makes no sense (unless you enjoy photography as a hobby). A goofy picture of you kissing some old bronze statue? Dumb, but…

It’s not just “making it your own”.

I took the girls all around the US, around the world even as they were growing up. I had grown up in a “camera family” so always had one on trips as a parent too.

Now, with two decades behind me, the photos of my young daughters, wife are the vacation photos I return to.

Oldest daughter is wearing a kimono sipping tea at some place in the mountains of Japan… Two youngest are chasing each other on the beach of some island in Hawaii…

Re: On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

#124

Post by DoingIsLearning »

To each their own but as someone with a terrible long term memory I find that pictures and journaling absolutely help me look back into the years and not have terrible voids of mind.

Also do take pictures of the mundane and everyday life, I actually started leaving a go pro in the corner of the room during lazy Sunday pancakes, or school runs, or occasional in the evening to catch interesting conversations with my kids when they are more mellow just before bedtime.

When I was younger I only really had pictures of travel and holidays and days/nights out. There is so much beauty in everyday stuff around the home and around your city. Your daily 'routine', is as much part of your life as the interrail you did in your 20's.

Re: On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

#125

Post by JKCalhoun »

socalgal2 wrote: post #45
planck_tonne wrote: post #11

There must be a balance. Recently I met some people that were constantly filming and taking pictures of everything. It was ridiculous IMO, for the same reasons OP mentions. This is not new. For me, it began with the rise of the smartphone. So I made it a point not to waste my time photographing things. 10 years later, I regret having essentially no pictures of anything. In particular, no "good" or "frameable" picture…

I think I’m living in the moment. I still take 50-100 pictures on a day trip to a new place. I don’t feel like that means I don’t enjoy the moment. took a ski lift up a mountain, too maybe 3 pics up and 3 down. 20-30 seconds total of a 5-10 minute experience If I was to guess what might take me out is if I was addicted to instantly posting them, watching the likes and comments flow in, and viewing my friends posts, a…

I travel still (in a hotel in Obon, Scotland right now) and do take photos.

I take a lot less than I used to. I do try to take in the moment now.

Re: On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

#126

Post by JKCalhoun »

vasco wrote: post #93

I've noticed the "live in the moment" crowd is funnily enough the one that least lives in the moment. They are the first to notice how many people around them are taking pictures or posing or looking "ridiculous", worrying how themselves would look if they did the same, sometimes wanting deep down to do the same but held back by their own perceived judgement of others potentially turning on them. I had a friend that…

I don’t know, noticing others taking photos kind of also is the moment. ;-)

Re: On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

#127

Post by ioma8 »

__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #99
andrehacker wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was young and easily swayed, I took life advice from a well-known Dutch comedian (Youp van 't Hek) who loved to mock tourists taking those cringe “holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa” photos. The message was clear: tourist photos were tacky, and besides, you could always find a better photo in the gift shop anyway. So for years, I smugly avoided taking photos—too cool for clichés. It only hit me much later th…

I have a friend who refuses to take pictures without people in them. It seemed dumb at first but after several years of pictures piling up I can see he had a pretty good point.

This is really important point. Photos without people can be art. But photos with people capture memories. As a photographer I had to learn this with time and blurry, bad angled picture with favourite people capturing precious moment is zilions times more valuable (at least to me) than perfect picture of some architecture I took.

Re: On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

#128

Post by tecleandor »

markdown wrote: post #116
mocamoca wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a film camera, which removes the possibility of infinite shots. It works for me! And since I must print the pictures, I make duplicates and share with friends and family. You can give it a try: there are very easy cameras!

I don't think there is even a print shop for film in my country anymore, with the last one shutting down last year.

Don't know what country you're in, but in general people has been picking up analog cameras again. Madrid probably has at least doubled or tripled the number of print shops in the last 5 years.

The real problem is the price of film has skyrocketed. Since factories has been closing in the last ten years, the offer is low, and the demand is high... Even low quality Chinese stock is going for prices higher than professional rolls where 5 or 6 years ago.

Re: On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

#129

Post by JKCalhoun »

sivers wrote: post #5

I’d always wanted to go to Korea. I was so excited. I set out to explore and forgot my phone in the hotel. I walked around Seoul for twelve hours that day and experienced so many wonderful things. I remember them all vividly now, years later, but I have no photos of it. It was a relief to not document everything. I appreciated everything as a one-step process instead of a two-step process. I could just feel amazed, i…

So much wild street food to be found at night in Seoul…

Re: On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

#130

Post by vachina »

planck_tonne wrote: post #11

There must be a balance. Recently I met some people that were constantly filming and taking pictures of everything. It was ridiculous IMO, for the same reasons OP mentions. This is not new. For me, it began with the rise of the smartphone. So I made it a point not to waste my time photographing things. 10 years later, I regret having essentially no pictures of anything. In particular, no "good" or "frameable" picture…

Some questions I ask myself before I take the camera out:

1. Is it a picture someone else would’ve already taken?

2. Does it have our faces in it?

3. Will it have historical significance in 10 years time?

If all of it answers no, I rest easy knowing I missed nothing.

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