Monday 25 February 2013

Snap happy


Most of you, like me, probably take numerous photographs of your little ones. If you like taking photographs, it's easy to get carried away and can involve a conscious decision as to whether to be in the moment or to capture it as an image. At the end of last year, I read an interesting article that discussed how iPhone photos impact our experience and memories. As someone who takes a lot of photos on my iPhone of my two children, it resonated with me and I could relate to a lot of what the author said.
 "Sorting through the glut of images, I notice that the ones that seem valuable change with time. What seems like the best shot of the group a day later is often different than what seems most beautiful, or moving, a year or more later. Perusing these images you become a detective looking for patterns that you did not know to look for at the time."
Thomas Beller, the author of the article, mentions a couple of specific memories he has of his children of which there is no photographic evidence. He questions if the vivid details he has of the memories are indeed the result of not having photographs to show for it. He proposes "a weekly ritual of twenty-four hours of undocumented life". I'm not so extreme in my photography that I need to impose such a ritual in my life but I like the thinking behind it. 
 
Social media and aps like Instagram can make taking and sharing photos quite addictive in a way. There's a balance in taking enough photos for posterity and taking enough time camera-free to engage with family, friends and your surroundings. When we go on holiday, we often leave our phones and cameras behind and just enjoy the day and activities in themselves. We will take them out just for a morning or afternoon on some days to get a few holiday snaps.

Speaking of holidays and as summer is getting a little less distant on the horizon, I'll leave you with a link to three tips for taking photos outdoors, dealing with light and bright sunlight (scroll down to end of the post for the tips).

What are your photo-taking habits? Do you take photos of some kind every day or mostly just on holidays and special occasions?
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photo credit

2 comments:

  1. I think I know what you mean. I started off being quite a prolific photo taker when my daughter was in the NICU. After all, I didn't get to take her home so at least I could take her image along with a little cloth that would smell of her. It helped with expressing milk too. So it started there. I have thousands of photos of my daughter, but I sometimes make a conscious effort not to go too overboard these days as , like you say, you can miss the moment by being at a distance. You want them to remember YOU in the fun memories of childhood, not just you behind a camera.

    But I do often grab a sneak one for my own purpose as it serves to remind me of little trips we took or the time we went to town and ate a sausage roll on a bench. Silly things that I might forget because I have such a poor memory!!! xx

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    Replies
    1. Yes, exactly. Don't get me wrong, I have tons of photos of my two too but like you say, you definitely want them to remember you being involved in the moment with them and not you behind a camera. xx

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