Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots

hedgehogreview.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 333 posts

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

#181

Post by lukan »

dingaling wrote: post #172
billfruit wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pictures are one way, there are other ways too like writing a journal. Camera after all is a recent invention.

Few people have the time to sit and write a journal each day. I tried and it became a burden, a dread before bed time. Sleep won out. Journals can also be electively subjective. Yes, a photo can be framed or posed, but it's harder to edit awkward truths out of a photo rather than omitting them from a journal.

"Few people have the time to sit and write a journal each day."

Yet many people seem to have the time to sink in endless time on Netflix, FB, Insta, candycrush or doomscrolling somewhere else.

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

#182

Post by codingdave »

socalgal2 wrote: post #60
-__---____-ZXyw wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever gone on a day trip with no camera of any kind?

Yes, I was an adult before digital cameras were a thing. I have what feels like zero pictures of my life before about 1996. Comparing the two I will gladly take having a camera over not having a camera.

This is one of the quieter yet transformative changes I've seen tech bring to life - digital cameras removed the cost and hassle of film. Photography before the mid 90s was about deliberate choices of whether a shot was worth the actual cost of the film as well as being one of a couple dozen shots available to you without having to change film rolls. But now, whipping out 50-100 photos while out for the day is quick, easy, and almost free.

Consumption of the photos changed as well, but I'm going to let the idea of negatives, prints, and literal slide shows wait for another day. The point is that photography today is not the same as photography in the prior century.

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

#183

Post by scrollop »

rsolva wrote: post #177

As with anything in life, there is a balance. I have rekindled my love for the small digital pocket cameras. I love using it when observing every day events unfolding. I try not to let the camera get in the way of my own interactions, like a good conversation when walking with friends or loved ones. The small 14 year old Samsung W2000 I use is slim enough to easily slide into any pocket, and has a 5x optical zoom tha…

I sold my lenses and fullframe camera and now use a sony zv-1 - has f1.8 and a 24-70 lens, and you can attach a small 19mm, so 19mm to 70mm, 1 inch sensor, films 4k, and not much larger than the samsung

samsung: Width: 99.5 mm Height: 59 mm Depth: 21.7 mm

Zv-1: Width: 105.5 mm Height: 60.0 mm Depth: 43.5 mm

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

#184

Post by scrollop »

submeta wrote: post #162

When you get older, you realize how memories fade, how they disappear, and that’s when you wish you had taken more pictures. I am not talking about young folks shooting photos for the sake of getting likes. I am talking about precious moments, a picture here, a picture there. They will help trigger lost memories. For what is our identity if not a string of recollections we have?

I've noticed that of all the hundreds of thousands of family images I have taken, everyone wants to watch the tens of thousands of videos I took simultaneously.

With video, you can recollect better people's personalities, get more of a sense of the moment. Pictures are great, though imho videos surpass.

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

#185

Post by scrollop »

camtarn wrote: post #161
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #124

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 ki…

I like the idea of just having a GoPro running as a habit, but do you find that you collectively change your behaviour, knowing that you're being observed? At least on a GoPro, you can apparently turn off the blinking red 'recording' LED.

I've done this as well.

You forget about the camera, quickly.

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

#186

Post by sensanaty »

vachina wrote: post #130
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.

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

I mean, almost by definition there's basically no way of knowing this right?

A picture of a mountainside with nothing interesting going on other than nature might not be significant in 10 years, or maybe the entire landscape has transformed into something completely different.

I grew up in Bali, Indonesia. In the 90s, where I lived was nothing but lush jungle and beaches, with a few very small houses here and there dotting things. By the 2000s we had actual asphalt roads, and by the 2010s we had a full on highway on the south of the island. The stretch of land where I grew up is quite literally incomparable to what it looked like before despite my house not changing much, and it took roughly 10 years to reach that state. I would've loved if I had a camera back then to record the changes as they were happening, because you'd be amazed how quickly things become significant in some way, not to mention any potential memories of a place you think of fondly!

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

#187

Post by scrollop »

void-star wrote: post #59

Sketchbook. And pencil… or watercolor… or whatever you can get your hands on. It’s true a picture lasts longer. The memory of the place and experience of creating the image with your own hands does too.

Interesting, yet not practical in 99% of situations.

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

#188

Post by submeta »

scrollop wrote: post #184
submeta wrote: post #162

When you get older, you realize how memories fade, how they disappear, and that’s when you wish you had taken more pictures. I am not talking about young folks shooting photos for the sake of getting likes. I am talking about precious moments, a picture here, a picture there. They will help trigger lost memories. For what is our identity if not a string of recollections we have?

I've noticed that of all the hundreds of thousands of family images I have taken, everyone wants to watch the tens of thousands of videos I took simultaneously. With video, you can recollect better people's personalities, get more of a sense of the moment. Pictures are great, though imho videos surpass.

I agree! Videos are different.

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

#190

Post by throw0101b »

billfruit wrote: post #163
submeta wrote: post #162

When you get older, you realize how memories fade, how they disappear, and that’s when you wish you had taken more pictures. I am not talking about young folks shooting photos for the sake of getting likes. I am talking about precious moments, a picture here, a picture there. They will help trigger lost memories. For what is our identity if not a string of recollections we have?

Pictures are one way, there are other ways too like writing a journal. Camera after all is a recent invention.

> Pictures are one way, there are other ways too like writing a journal.

Finding a shoebox full of photos is a lot easier to go through and reading through a journal / diary. One can quickly reminisce with the photos, but it would take a while to read through various written entries.

Photos can also capture spontaneous instants of time, whereas recollecting and writing down something involved taking up the entire context of an event and then 'interpreting' it so you can write it down.

Further, not all of one's internal state can even perhaps be put into words to be written down. A photo may help you recall feelings that you find difficult to put into words.

Post reply on HN