From the desk of Mr. Monk

Photography

A while back, I think it was in by first year of uni, I had a lecture on photography. It made me really think about photography in a way that has made me change my habits. The tutor said “cameras have become so popular an accessible that we have started to spend our lives behind a lens rather than living life.” I got told this when I was a bit of a myspace kid. Photos were uploaded by the bucket-loads and although I didn’t upload as many as my friends, I still put a fair few images on. I carried a camera everywhere and if it wasn’t a compact if always have my phone. I’ve been through many and I even got a phone that had a great camera on it so I could “capture those priceless memories”. Problem was that I wasn’t living them brcauelse I was always stuck behind a viewfinder. I’m writing this sitting on the beach in Egypt on my iPhone. What’s funny is that now I have to make a conscious effort to take a picture I end up writing or wanting to at least. This might be half to do with buying an slr so it’s larger than a compact and less practical, but for the quick snaps my iPhone does the job. But I much more enjoy bring there in the moment and recording it journal style. With the iPhone I can always take a quick picture and attach it to any sort of memory to. Anyway I digress. I guess the main point is that I want to pass on the wise words of that tutor. Do you really need to take ridiculous amounts of photos all of the time. Why do we feel the need to publish intimate times? Besides the crap photos are clogging up the Internet, it’s making photographers life harder; everyone thinks they’re a professional and can’t appreciate what makes good photography.

Posted with LifeCast