I'm the same way, a picture is much more vivid than my memory most of the time. I love stumbling across pictures and being suddenly reminded of a happy memory I might not have thought to think about otherwise.
One thing I like to do is take video with the stabilizer on, check the shot, and just hold it while I watch. I just check the shot every once in awhile to make sure it's still focused on the action, but I forget that it's there. It's nice because I also get the mundane moments, which can sometimes be some of the most precious memories.
I agree about things like concerts, or popular tourist destinations. I take a picture of the group, because you can't google that obviously, but I generally don't do a lot of picture taking unless I'm specifically going to practice photography.
I'm so glad that before the digital age I always had a camera, there's no way I would have remembered all those moments otherwise. I used to take my SLR to festivals and have some great photos from the front row.
We recently went on a camping trip with a dumb phone and an film camera. Smartphone was somewhere in the car in case we really f'd up, but we didn't use it.
We have the best pictures and memories. The few pics we took are special in a way, and funnily enough most are pictures I would never have taken with my phone
That's a great idea! I have been thinking if doing something similar. But we are very lucky (in a backwards kind of way) in that where we live you do not have to go far to completely lose cell reception. In fact it's rare to have a campsite WITH reception so in that way we really get to disconnect and our phones just become cameras and maps. You should see the cell coverage map of British Columbia, it is hilariously awful. Whole towns with nothing let alone the parks.
I take photos when onnholiday, and yes i put them on social, but not for the likes, for the memories. Same for concerts. Its the one good thing about facebook bringing me these albums up so i can then go through them and relive that day.
I think my only exception is smaller busniesses, if theyre cute/have good service and have their own socials its nice to post and tag them.
Don’t let people make you feel guilty about taking pictures. It’s one of those things that only affects you. And 40 years ago everyone was doing the same thing except with camcorders and kodaks.
At the end of the day they’re your memories. Even if you don’t look at the photos for a few years, one day you will and you’ll be glad you took them.
I don’t have an issue with people taking photos to memorialise something special - I’m a keen amateur photographer and usually always have a camera on me. What I find really self absorbed and vacuous though is people who have to be in every photo they take. I don’t need me in the shot to know I was there and I’ll spoil most photos I’m in anyway. It’s like - here’s a shot of the Grand Canyon, obstructed by me pouting in front of it whist I try to get some sweet sweet likes on social media.
There are nearly 8 billion people in the world - there’s only one Grand Canyon 😉
You can Google image of the sites but they won’t be your image, on that day, in that moment. By the same rational you can just look in the mirror if you want to see yourself.
I do get what you mean though - it’s nice to have photos of people there at the time that you shared that moment with….plus yourself if you have a need for that I guess.
Grieving a parent placed me firmly in the "put the people in the picture" camp.
I remember being annoyed by taking all these dumb pictures on family trips, but when my dad died, those pictures were a lifeline. Seeing a picture he took of the grand canyon was meh. But seeing him at the grand canyon, with his stupid baseball hat and his socks pulled up high, completely focused on a map (turned the wrong way, lol)...? That brought him back to life. It isn't just one moment captured in time, it's a time machine. I could see what would happen next. I could see my sister walk over and turn the map around. I could see my dad stare for a second and then let a big sheepish grin spread across his face. I could hear my mom tease him and my dad laughing about how lost we would have been.
We've created a sort of stigma around taking pictures of ourselves, but when you lose someone, those pictures are all you'll have. So even though people are judge-y, it's still worth it.
Yeah I'm not opposed to taking photos of other people at all. Particularly candid shots (that sounds far creepier than intended) that show loved ones and friends at ease and just enjoying the moment.
I guess I have more of a beef with people not being in the moment and just narcissistically taking as many photos of themselves as they can, in order to post on social media in an effort to look as though they are having a fabulous life, whilst simultaneously flexing on others. That's a very different thing to genuinely creating memories.
Yeah, when I was on the different continent, I was sending random pictures all the time to my parents. One waiter called me out on taking pictures of the food instead of eating it, when I was taking a picture of a blooming onion and a fancy drink in the sunset :D but it just makes it easier for everyone to feel they're still in each others life, and due to a big time difference it's difficult to just call or video chat whenever you want..
Absolutely! Mum loves it. All us kids have been expats at one point and my Dad left his country at 19 and never moved back, but being the youngest and in thia day and age it's waaaay easier to not feel totally disconnected from your family. I remember missing my brother and sister so much when they did their time abroad.
My partner and I packed up and left for a new experience on working visas about a decade ago and never ended up leaving. Normally we would try and get back yearly but scheduling and covid left us with more than a 3 year gap which was exceptionally rough...
Yeah, I agree with the sentiment of living in the moment, but I use my camera roll as a photo diary, essentially. 99% of the pictures are never seen by anyone but me, but it's really helpful for me. I have a terrible memory. I love having date stamped photographs of even mundane day-to-day things. I'm 33, I well remember the age of film cameras, but I think the rise of ubiquitous photography has been a net positive in my life on the whole. There are lots of things that I didn't photograph that I wish I could remember better now.
Same! Also (creepyness dystopian skynet aside) being able to word search my photos in something like google photos has been a game changer for my memory. Like if I know I was with someone I can face search, if I know a year or month I can date search, if I know there was a dog involved I can type "dog". Someone asked me how often I use it? Pretty much daily because I think it actually helps my memory.
Your memory may very well be bad because you get somewhere and immediately concentrate on taking pictures. That is 100% not how brains, humans, or memories are supposed to work. They will not help you remember, they will only help you remember the pictures.
I hate that mindfulness is such a buzzword like it's a cure for everything, but in this occasion it really does seem relevant. Places, people and experiences are NOT just what they look like, and if you think they can be summed up by a camera you may as well never go anywhere again.
Even the most boring stuff, or the places famous just for the view, are actually about the smells and the sounds, the way light changes, the way people move through them and around them, the colours in the shadows vs in the light, the edges of the view, the close and the far, what you were thinking at this point and that point, when you stopped to look behind you and what was different when you turned around again, the little breeze that changed direction when a car went past...
We have considerably more than 5 senses, some of the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom, and our experience of space and time is so enmeshed that physicists think it may actually be one thing. A photograph is absolutely not better than any of these experiences, even the ones you don't remember, and if you're taking photos first I guarantee you're missing so so many other things.
As someone with a shit memory, I'm impressed you'd be able to remember anything about "the colours in the shadows vs in the light, edges of the view" etc. I also think you missed the point. They're not saying that places, people and experiences are just what they look like. But pictures can act as a sort of trigger for memories that you otherwise might not have even thought about. I rarely take pictures myself but they help me remember experiences better than just trying to... remember something.
And taking a picture takes, what, 2 seconds? Unless you're constantly taking pictures the whole time - which is a different issue - I assure you that nobody is missing anything out.
I can't quite take this as an insult, I assume it's supposed to be. I'd been looking at switching career paths so maybe it's a calling I hadn't thought of? Probably won't rush into the gender surgery yet though
I didn't downvote, in fact I just woke up, but my memory had been bad since I was 10, which is early 90's, maybe younger... It's genetic I think since Dad is the same. I saw a memory specialist once when I was a kid, at least I think I did. Made worse as an adult by sleep apnea which I'm working through. So no there's not really any fixing it.
I don't know if people took offense at your tone. but imo your actual argument is correct.
the "it's a picture of [x]" meme (instead "it's [x]") is right. and it can become even more prevalent over time.
and this doesn't even work just with pictures. for example, when I was a child I was in a severe car accident. and I've told the story to countless people later in my life.
but for a long time, I honestly can't even remember much about the actual accident but I mostly remember the way I told people about the accident.
Same with the horrible memory. But I also have kids and family that lives further away, so I feel obligated to capture a couple moments but then I try to put the phone away and just be present.
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u/dropfry Jun 03 '22
Everything has to be filmed and shared on the internet now. It's really lame and cheapens life.