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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

#71

Post by makeitdouble »

> Were they worth it, those childbirth photographs? Did they turn out well? One did. Only one

Three angles:

A - For that one picture that's worth you might need to take a dozen.

Or sometimes 60 in burst mode. Liking to take photos in the first place makes it a different exercise and one might spend more effort and be more critical of that one good photo, but I'd assume people not that into photo will also need more sample to find the ones they really like.

B - You only know which one turns out well after the fact. I'd push it further: if you want to live in the moment and not be pixel peeping next to your newborn, you better not care too much about the result and just snap at every chance, especially as you won't be handling you camera while holding your kid.

And that's the same for every occasion. Just snapping a bunch of pictures when it's less distracting is to me the best strategy yet.

C - Unsurprisingly the pictures I absolutely loved weren't the same as my kid's for instance. A decade later he actually looked at his birth photo, and stopped for almost a minute at each one of them, and the one that hit him the most wasn't his. but a random shot of his mother looking at him. I'd feel so sorry if I didn't take that shot, it was horribly framed and totally unthought, but that's the one that hit him. Btw I'm in almost none of these shots, didn't think of it and wouldn't have cared to at the time.

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

#73

Post by huimang »

elliottkember wrote: post #72
huimang wrote: post #39

[flagged]

> Having a knee-jerk reaction to photo taking that causes you to stop taking photos entirely is absurd. Note that the author is a photographer by trade.

Note that the author stopped carrying a camera with him in his hometown, in order to "live in the moment", as per the article. My point was made generically.

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

#74

Post by kmoser »

memhole wrote: post #46
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…

On a backpacking trip, a guy and I were hiking together for a moment. I was snapping photos of the landscape and he started to chastise me for it. He made the same point. It’s about the people you’re with. Eventually, all the photos blur together. He’s not wrong. I’ve got tons of pictures of the outdoors. Not that they aren’t beautiful. Pressed, I mostly couldn’t tell one from the other.

He's not wrong...unless you're planning to use that landscape photo in a way that will give you some sort of benefit in the future (emotional, financial, etc.).

It's easy (an often correct) to assume that most such photos will never be seen again, or maybe scrolled by quickly at best, but the fact is one doesn't know the motivation of the photographer, nor how they might change their motivation in the future to actually make use of that photo.

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

#76

Post by magicalhippo »

j_bum wrote: post #10

I struggle to relate to this. I have aphantasia, which means I can’t see anything in my mind’s eye. This is most painful when I try to “imagine” my wife’s face, my family, friends, favorite parts of nature, etc, but am left with nothing. For me, this means that I struggle to remember things from my past beyond major life events. Even major events can be fuzzy for me. As a result, I’ve always tried to snap quick pictu…

I'm quite certain I've got aphantasia as well, but despite that I have quite vivid memories.

Except I don't really visualize what was there, but I "feel" them. It's not just a grocery list of elements for a scene, rather I have a strong sensation of being in the moment.

Both my mom and my sister has multiple times expressed surprise at my recall.

On the other hand, old pictures doesn't really do that much for me. Sure it's fun to watch them, and maybe they jog some memories, but I don't feel I need them.

That said, I'm open to future me regretting not taking pictures, so when on vacation or similar I do try to take some pictures.

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

#77

Post by huimang »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #51
huimang wrote: post #39

[flagged]

> When in 5-10+ years you'll really regret not having a few pictures (and videos!) here and there. I can't say I ever have. I think that different people are happy with different things (hot take, I know lol). That doesn't make the advice bullshit, it just means that it will be valuable for some and not sure others.

It's not the advice itself that is bullshit, it's that it's repeated as a mantra by people all the time.

While I agree that everyone has different opinions, I do think the average person will appreciate being able to look back after so many years instead of having nothing due to repeating some mantra without thinking about it.

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

#78

Post by omoikane »

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 review old photos that I have taken.

I also bring a camera just because it feels like a security blanket of sorts, because you never know if something is going to come up, and the phone's wide angle lens might be insufficient.

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

#79

Post by FredPret »

My wife and I went on a giant trip a couple of years back. I took tens of thousands of pictures. They're now our Apple TV background.

Every time a new photo comes on the slideshow, it sparks a memory and moment of joy.

It's like the trip is paying dividends.

Of course I wasn't glued to my camera and still enjoyed it, but there's definitely a balance, and I'd err on the side of overrecording. Especially if the memories can pop up every now and then.

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

#80

Post by kmoser »

j_bum wrote: post #10

I struggle to relate to this. I have aphantasia, which means I can’t see anything in my mind’s eye. This is most painful when I try to “imagine” my wife’s face, my family, friends, favorite parts of nature, etc, but am left with nothing. For me, this means that I struggle to remember things from my past beyond major life events. Even major events can be fuzzy for me. As a result, I’ve always tried to snap quick pictu…

I don't have aphantasia at all (I can recall things visually quite well) but that doesn't mean I have perfect recall of all moments. I love taking photos of things, and to pore over those photos every decade or so. The photos are a reminder of the times, the people, and memories which I may otherwise forget unless jogged periodically.
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