November 17, 2014
Greetings from the lens,
One of the most influential social changes today was implemented
by technology. In the few years that we
have moved from being tethered to the wall by our phones and now released to
communicate anywhere with anyone, this change has altered the behavior of most
of humanity. It is a change that may
have affected how we experience and remember.
It is an interesting experiment, one that began
arbitrarily. Put a camera in the ubiquitous
cellphone, at the fingertips of virtually everyone in the world. Now we record our lives, or at least the
parts on which we focus.
The outcome is staggering.
It is beautiful and tragic.
Seven billion cell phone users in the world. Access to one another, and information, and
experiences, and with that a freedom that people in some parts of the world
have lacked.
You do the math, and try to imagine the number of
photographs being created in any moment, accumulating by the billions every
day. A global quilt being stitched
together,
Cups of coffee and landscapes and desserts and street
violence and sunrises and moose and babies. Visual post-it notes, parts from the broken
door, things we have made we want to share. And selfies.
It is interesting to me what we frame in our viewfinder. Yes, there are lots of random, careless
pictures taken. But look at a thousand
thousand thousand pictures and I think ultimately we could see that we focused
on what was important to us, what we care about.
I have a great admiration for serious photographers who
recognize a great shot, or who can compose a photo for the greatest effect, for
the most enjoyment of the viewer. Light
and shadow and what to leave in and what to leave out. And perspective; the relationship of the
objects in a photograph, their positions, the space between them, and how it
affects each.
Outside of the camera we also create perspective: what you
frame is your truth, is your reality, your relationship with the other objects
in your day. You choose every day what
you will focus on, what you will leave out, and what your connection is between
you and everything in your shot. How you
feel about this day is often steered by what you decide you will capture in
your lens.
We don’t live in a vacuum; those images outside our shot seep
into our periphery and change what we are seeing. We can still shift what we look at, or change
the focus, or the light. And still,
people will photobomb us. The best we can
do is to determine what we wish to view, marshal our focus, and be open to the
next shot.
Like most of us, I take pictures every time it occurs to
me. Occasionally I look at these images
accumulating in my phone and scratch my head.
Some pictures I am happy to see, glad I was there to record a little
reminder of the moment. Others I look at
and wonder what possessed me to bother. Photo-Compulsion
Disorder?
And this leads me to another question. When is it better not to take the picture?
There is a part of me that resists the urge to capture every
moment of any significance so that I can look at it later. Or share it.
It is not a counter-trend reaction, but more of an extension of my philosophy
about being engaged in the moment, and really living that experience.
When I watch some event unfold and the universal reaction is
that everyone pulls out their phone to capture it, I have to ask: Where is our
real focus? On some future day when this
moment is gone, sitting with memories and looking at pictures? Is this sort of a ‘life’ insurance policy,
where we can recapture life later when it’s gone?
Some might suggest I am overthinking this, and maybe that’s
right. Fact is I love getting pictures
from friends who say: ‘This was happening in my life, and I wanted you to share
in it, because you are important to me.’
But just so you know, all of you sending selfies to me,
there is no substitute for you. On this
end of the phone, I am happy to see your image, glad to know you are in my
life, and I look forward to the day that we will be face to face.
We will get some great shots together.
Hope this finds you smiling,
David
Copyright © 2014 David Smith
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