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.
- 353
- 1
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Funny, I have the exact opposite outlook. Not that I'm a serious photographer (have taken my phone for granted and now rarely carry a camera - too heavy and awkward), but when I was taking lots of pictures, I found it immensely beneficial to step out of the flow of the moment, frame a good shot, and take a picture of the scene. The flow of life goes on and is forgotten; the act of stepping out - with the intention to frame a good photo - makes a moment tangible as something which cannot be taken for granted and is thus inscribed in memory. I suspect the biggest part of that is doing it with intention and as part of a practice, since I can get a somewhat similar effect these days by taking a deep breath and opening awareness in the manner of a meditation.
Agree entirely on the social media aspect, of course, would be 100% nodding with a post titled "Against Instagram Stories". I miss Facebook photo albums, a much more human version of photographic memory.
Wonder also if this is one of those memory and visualization differences people have. I have an extremely strong visual memory, particularly for places I found visually compelling. Can close my eyes and take a 3D walk through many of them, and when I look at old photos I can expand them into all sorts of associated memories. I see a photo on the Danube bridge of Regensburg and I can see myself in the backstreets on the cobblestones, my bauernschmaus by the cathedral, trudging back to the hostel at night, etc.. I don't think all those other memories would be as strong without the photo to hang them all on, it would just be somewhere I went and I might remember that the river was beautiful.
It's so interesting that other people seem to have a very different perspective on this than me. Maybe the key difference is the first vs. third person photos? I can definitely say what you're saying about the photo helping with trigging memories of the landscape/city and I suspect this might be true for me as well. The problem for me I think principally is third-person photos (i.e. photos that I am in). These just absolutely wreck my memories.
That makes a ton of sense to me. You didn't go through the memory-fixing process of creating the shot.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link