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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

#81

Post by oaththrowaway »

j_bum wrote: post #67
oaththrowaway wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha,this could have been written by me as well. Aphantasia is so weird to try to describe to people. I've never been great about taking photos, but my wife always remembers. Recently spent some time consolidating all of the to Immich and being able to see the "memories" every day is incredible.

Awesome! When I explain it to people, I always ask them to close their eyes and picture an apple on a table. I then ask them what color the apple is. Everyone I’ve ever done this with (except a sibling) answers a color. I then say, “to me, there is no color, no apple, no table, no outline; nothing.” Always a leads to fun discussion :)

I'll have to use that next time!

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

#83

Post by FredPret »

andrehacker wrote: post #30
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…

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…

Being too cool for school really steals a lot of joy from the people who subscribe to that idea. I was a tourist at Pisa not long ago and we really unironically enjoyed "leaning" into our roles as tourists, and now we have fun pictures.

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

#84

Post by marticode »

andrehacker wrote: post #30
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…

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 had and followed that advice but in a slightly different delivery: "take photos of peoples, not things".

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

#86

Post by nntwozz »

I think David Lynch nailed it in Lost Highway:

-

Ed: Do you own a video camera?

Renee Madison: No. Fred hates them.

Fred Madison: I like to remember things my own way.

Ed: What do you mean by that?

Fred Madison: How I remembered them. Not necessarily the way they happened.

-

I used to own a DSLR, it was great for planned shots when settings things up for something special (e.g. my dog in mid air jumping over a fallen tree in the woods).

It's a nice hobby but I lost interest and now I just shoot stuff randomly with my iPhone.

It's a nice thing to have, but I think there's a purpose in forgetting, keeping track of everything can become a burden.

We're too obsessed with this, people can't even take a jog any longer without tracking pulse, calories, route etc.

It's too much, and it's making many of us miserable.

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

#87

Post by c22 »

makeitdouble wrote: post #71

> 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 s…

When my first child was born we hired a doula to help everything go smoothly and one of the services she offered was to take a few photos of the process so I could stay present with my partner. It was great not having to worry about this and she managed to catch several fantastic shots.

For the second child we had a different doula, but requested her to do the same. Unfortunately that doula was at lunch when the birth happened and missed the whole thing. I managed to get a couple pictures taken with my cell phone but they ended up pretty garbage.

I admit I just went and peeked, but honestly we don't ever look at either of these sets. The newborn photos we really cherish in both cases are the ones that were taken in the hospital the next morning after everyone had gotten a little rest.

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

#88

Post by andrehacker »

marticode wrote: post #84
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 had and followed that advice but in a slightly different delivery: "take photos of peoples, not things".

Yes, I ended up exactly there... 20 years later.

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

#89

Post by j_bum »

magicalhippo wrote: post #76
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. Sur…

That’s neat that you used the word “feel”… it’s the exact word I use when I try to describe my experience.

For example, I have a great spatial memory, which is obviously not due to my ability to “see” things in my mind. Instead, when asked how I can remember spatial things (e.g., “which way did we come from on our hike?”), all I can say is that I simply “feel” the path.

If you’re curious, this is because different parts of our brain are responsible for visual spatial processing vs. visual object processing. The dorsal visual pathway is responsible for spatial processing, and the ventral visual pathway is responsible for object processing, like faces. This is all “bottom up” visual processing.

Bottom up visual processing is independent from internal cognitive activation of these pathways, which can arise from frontoparietal engagement of the same “endpoints” as the dorsal/central visual pathways. This is “top down” processing.

My ability to “feel a spatial cognitive map without images” argues that there are some miswirings between my frontoparietal cortex and my temporal cortex. This is why I can still recognize faces, objects, etc., but can’t see them in my mind.

Visual imagery during dreaming adds an entire other layer onto the topic :)

Here are some good reviews and articles on the topic:

[0] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S10538...

[1] https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S136...

[2] https://academic.oup.com/cercorcomms/article/2/2/tgab035/626...

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

#90

Post by haswell »

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…

As a fellow aphantasic, I couldn’t agree more.

I’ve also learned over the years that photography is actually a gateway to being present for me. I spent the first 30+ years of my life in my head. Photography helps me pay attention to my surroundings, and is a kind of mindfulness practice in many ways.

When I go back and look at old images, it always surprises me how much I’ve forgotten.

I do think it can be taken too far, but at least for me, it’s been an invaluable tool for all of the reasons you mentioned.

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