SAY CHEESE

Once upon a time photos were the way to capture memories and beautiful moments to keep and cherish, and look over in times to come to reminisce and regress upon things that you saw, did, felt or imagined.

But nowadays with the digital revolution, photos are being wasted. I actually feel like people are abusing the cameras they are taking shots on. Perfecting images with photoshop and other like tools, cropping and blurring and having the opportunity to hit the delete button whenever takes fancy.

Don’t get me wrong – we have come leaps and bounds in the fields of photography, and I really appreciate some of these tools that we can use to manipulate and be creative with our images. But I almost feel a sense of empathy for the poor camera. Its hard to explain. But one look at other peoples facebooks and myspaces show the same image taken over and over again – from different angles and in different lights trying to capture the photographers ideal image.

It almost feels like more than half of the worlds images exist as self photos, group party shots, and overly made up images of teen girls at different social soirees. Its boring. I am not into seeing 1200 photos of you, you and mate one, you and mate two, you and mate one and mate two smiling, you and mate one and mate two laughing, you and mate one and mate two falling down drunk.

What I do like to see if one photo of you having a good time, looking perfect or imperfect – whatever the moment encapsulates. One photo of you sharing a special moment with family or friends. One beautiful landscape. One obscure object that when lit from the right angle stirred emotion inside you. Get my drift?

And when I talk about you here. I am talking to the vast majority of you who spend time taking photos for other peoples enjoyment (which seems the driving motivation of the photo albums on places like myspace and facebook). If you are going to share your moments with the world at large, be creative, be individual. Cherish the you that you are, and be proud to share it in all its glory. After all, individuality is what makes you who you are. Don’t be afraid to step outside the boundaries. Don’t feel like you cant break the rules. Do feel like you have something to offer. Do feel proud of your strengths and weaknesses. Do believe that one photo is enough!

I may have traveled way off topic here. But my feelings on the matter are strong. And rightfully so. I bought a new camera recently (the sixth in my growing collection) and I really only take it out when it is warranted. I don’t feel I need to document every single second of my life. I cherish the images that I capture during those rare moments because I believe that I cant get those moments back again.

That’s where the real beauty lies.