11 Dec #6 Why do we take photos?

Since we are all not from here and we all want to share whatever we are doing and seeing here with our people back at home, we are all related to the question why we actually take photos.

I have always been very excited in taking photos; spending to much money on Canon cameras and developing my analoge photos. But why do I actually like taking pictures? And all the other people around me; all tourists standing in line next to each other taking the exact same photo… Why are we all hooked on capturing moments?

We apparently really feel like sharing the beautiful places we are visiting in our lives with the people we love. Maybe it is because we want to get confirmation from them, maybe it is to collect the pictures for ourselves and tell stories about what we have been going through. And in the moment of taking the picture, it is maybe a way of making what we see around us more understandable.

I am still in conflict with the ethics of taking photos: to me it feels as if you are creating a wall between you and the outside world. When you take a picture of a person (despite the fact that that person will probably don’t like that if you do it without asking) you will create a certain distance between the two of you. When you are in a certain situation taking pictures of it, you are not part of it anymore, you are only capturing.

However, sometimes it can create a bridge to a situation you would normally never end up participating in and taking pictures is your remedy of being part of it. In that sense, photography can create new experiences for you.

As you may notice, I still have not figured out yet whether photography is a good thing or not. What I do believe is that tourists taking the same picture of a church that they don’t have any emotional attachment but that they just read about in their guidebook is ridiculous: they are probably not even enjoying being there, let alone they will enjoy looking back at the picture. No memories being made.

So: only capture those moments that are highly valuable to you and that you feel need to be captured in order to memorize it. Or capture a moment that is going to make a difference throughout history, or that are beautiful as a piece of art. But please, don’t click just because you want to post it on facebook, that is just a waste of your time and devaluating the place you should be enjoying.