The Value of a Photo
Both as a lover of technology and it's advancements into the digital era and as a photographer I'm torn on my opinions. I won't lie and say that I don't love the fact that I have a full functioning camera in my pocket at all times (cell phone), but is it diluting the value of a photograph and a memory? I have a handful of photos that I remember of my childhood distinctly engraved in my mind because back then you didn't take thousands of photos. Nowadays parents are whipping out their cameras at every smile, every giggle, every pout, every moment of a child's life. And it's not just children, we as a society take photos and videos of everything. I had a stack of 20 video tapes from my childhood that I got digitized finally a few years ago. That's my childhood. That's all the video evidence that exists. And I don't even think all those tapes were full. A bunch of them were my gymnastics meets that my mom filmed with me and all the team, so I'd guess half that is actual home videos.
I'm all about taking photos and video, but how much is too much? In the days of film you would buy a roll that consisted of normally 24 or 36 frames and you were careful to make sure each one meant something. Now we put our phones on burst mode and then it's uploaded to the cloud with infinite space (provided you pay the monthly fee). If there was such a thing as digital waste, we'd be overflowing. Again, I'm not saying I'm not guilty, but what happened to the quality and the care that went into preserving a memory?
Here are my most remembered and favorite photographs from my childhood. It wasn't difficult to choose because there wasn't a massive amount to pick from and yet I love them even more because of it. My parents selectively chose to photograph these moments for a reason.
I'd love to see yours if you dare to share. ;) #babyphotos
Such sweet photos :) So lovely <3 <3
problem is, most of the photos made in that burst mode, need to photograph everything are not looked at again, maybe never. Using film still has that effect on you, don't know did you try. i have a 36 roll in Zorki 4k for months now :)
Yup, I'm definitely there with you. Though on a related tangent, I've noticed I don't take many photos of regular life, now that my full time job is taking professional photos. Before I was a photographer, I took tons of photos of dumb daily things, but now I barely take photos like that. I don't know where I'm going with this, but I would like to get to a happy medium. Take enough photos of daily life that it's worth something, but not too many and create that waste effect.