Photography or BUST?

Why The World Needs More Photographs.

I recently had the pleasure of attending a friend's wedding.

It was a close affair, socially distanced and fully masked.

One of the things that caught my eye was that everyone and their dog was both a guest, and an impromptu photographer/videographer.

For example, sitting three pews in front, was an elderly lady who was recording the entire event with her iPad Pro. When I say 'recording', I mean that she was also watching the entire event live, through her iPad, as its size completely obscured the actual view in front of her.

A little bit further down was another elderly guest who didn't realise that their phone's digital shutter sound could (and should) be turned off, but I think that was the only way he knew whether he had taken the actual photo.

Of course, you also had the obligatory hired photographer, who put on a great show juggling two heavy cameras with large lenses around his neck.

The same scenario continued outside of the church. Waiting for the happy couple to emerge was akin to waiting at the back of a club, hoping for your favourite celebrity to come out and greet their fans. The sea of smartphones held aloft by nearly every guest, also made me feel like I was about to experience a once-in-a-lifetime event (which I hope would be the case, as I think my friend and her partner were made for each other :)

You can probably already guess that the reception was a lot more of the same. Cameras, phones, iPads, and even some kid's Nintendo 3DS made an appearance. I think he was the only one who actually managed to capture the event in 3-D.

So where am I going with this?

Well, the entire event got me thinking about just how much of our life is being documented these days, and how 'meh' the sight of someone holding a photographic device and snapping away has become.

Going back a couple of decades, seeing a large group of people taking photos meant that, more than likely, something really interesting was happening, or a bus load of tourists had made a scheduled stop at a popular landmark.

These days, however, it usually means that someone "woke up like this, and they might delete the photo later".

What does that say about humanity in general?

Perhaps the ubiquitous access to a photo-capturing device is in fact the greatest creation since air conditioning.

It seems that throughout the ages, men and women had always dreamed of being able to document the world around them, but it was either too expensive or too fiddly, or too cumbersome.

With the recent invention of easily portable mobile devices with half-decent cameras in them, that dream has now become a reality.

As a matter of fact, last night I walked around our house, and decided to count how many non-photographic devices we possess, that aren't strictly 'cameras' but could double as one in a pinch.

What I discovered was that we own more non-cameras than actual cameras, and that was very surprising because we're a family of photographers.

Everything from gaming consoles, current and obsolete smartphones and iPads, several laptops, that camera built into the TV which has been covered with masking tape from day one, an old iPod, cool spy pen that I got as a gift a few years ago, and the list goes on.

There are more photos of food on an average iPhone camera roll, than in all the cook books in a book store. The same can be said for pictures of kids, pets, selfies, and pretty much any location or event that may be more interesting to show off to a friend as a picture, than it really was in real life.

Of the admittedly small group of people that I surveyed (eleven, actually), ten of them had almost filled their phone's internal memory primarily with photos and videos. The one outlier was a male teenager, whose phone's memory was filled with games, as well as photos and videos of a different genre, which they didn't take themselves.

And you know what? I don't think there is anything remotely wrong with that. In fact, seeing people documenting every aspect of their lives makes me smile on the inside.

When I was growing up, film photography was the only option available. Even though I already owned several cameras at that time, the idea of documenting something as banal as a lunch date, or yet another trip to the beach with some of my dearest friends, was unthinkable. Why would I want to invest $20 in film and processing, just to have some pictures of a pointless event?

Well, many of those friends are now grown up, with families, or no longer with us, and these 'pointless events' are now distant memories which I would pay far more than $20 to be able to relive again.

So take as many photos and videos as you want, even if you think that you'll never go through them. Trust me, in ten or twenty years, those random shots will be some of the most precious memories you will ever have, and you'd be glad you made them.

If you enjoyed this blog and feel that you got something out of it, please feel free to follow me on Twitter or Instagram; and also subscribe to my newsletter for more in-depth photography tips and tricks.

Happy shooting!