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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   4553 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 16, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I've always raised an eyebrow at this advice. Speaking for myself, I've never felt that photography distracted me from being "in the moment." If I'm visiting a nice place, I'm going to whip out my phone, take as many photos as I please, and then use my Mk. 1 human eyeballs. I don't perceive events entirely through a viewfinder.

And I notice that my memory of events is significantly enhanced by photos. I have forgotten a ton of things until I've seen a picture that either brought back memories or let me reconstruct them.

You would have to have a very pathological attachment to a camera for taking photos at the frequency of a normal 21st century human to be detrimental.

I go one better and try to take a DLSR and tripod with me if it's feasible, and even if I'm stuck using my phone I try to at least take a good picture and not just snap away. With the DSLR, especially, I find that it actually enhances the experience because when you're trying to take a good photo, i.e. something that you might want to get a print of and frame for the wall of your office or living room, you spend a lot more time looking than you otherwise might. If you're at an overlook a small building you wouldn't have otherwise noticed may either become a distraction that needs to be kept out of the shot or the focal point of the whole composition, depending on the situation. Lines, topography, geometric shapes, framing, color, points of interest, etc. And then I get to go into Photoshop and coax the image that I saw out of the raw data dump, and try to capture its emotional impact.

The end result of this process is that I might get 2 or 3 images that are frame-worthy, if I'm lucky, as well a as a few that just don't work at all. The upshot is that a standard vacation album still ends up being a lot better than the one from the guy with the phone who just snaps everything he sees without thought, allows the JPEG algorithm in the phone to make all the processing decisions, and ends up with a whole bunch of pictures that all look the same.

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