 one of those things we do... Wednesday, September 30, 2009 if you muck around on flickr or facebook or any social media site that allows folks to post their personal images, it doesn't take long to notice the trends, the sameness, the lack of creativity we all share when it comes to documenting where we go or what we do. i wrote a bit about this in a back issue of Light Leaks. we tend to just grab our subject, stand them in front of said object of documentation and click. honestly, i once worked with a fellow who took a lot of international cruises. he's shoot mega-shit-tons of pictures...95% of his photo albums that he diligently constructed (usually 300 images per cruise!) included shot after shot of him--standing in front of hotel signs, palm trees, pagodas, walls, boats, restaurants and others bits of locale. sometimes he'd pose with acquaintances he'd met on the trip, sometimes with total strangers who he happened upon and would ask to take a photo with. I never recall seeing even one single creatively framed moment that spoke anything of his adventures. nothing local, nothing epic, nothing that said, 'i had a great trip.' on one side, the artsy fartsy side, i think, what a great project, portraits from all over the world that say nothing about which MarriottTM or Applebee'sTM it is in which destination. but the more practical part of the photo me ponders the lost opportunity to share something about a trip that lies beneath the surface of just the 'i was here. i still wonder if seeing himself there, standing in front of some mundane icon broughtt back the rush of the experience, it probably did, but it did little for anyone who just looked at the images. we all know the boredom of looking at other's vacation shots, it's horrible when we massively fail to captivate. we have to do better at storytelling as shooters, i know i do. sometimes i think i just don't have it in me to do properly...but i keep trying to get the words out in the pictures...somehow. CBIT+H. Holga. Kodak VPS6006. Comment (7) | Permalink |
