Don't worry, this isn't a makeup tutorial post, though going on how much support some of them get, perhaps I should start doing some. The picture is one I took a few years ago in the prep stages of the first wedding I ever shot. It was a really long day, where I met the bride and maids before seven in the morning and was shooting all the way through until after 2 am, as I did the prep, the set shots, the church and the reception. It was stressful too.
I don't think I could do it now.
Not because of not being able to take the stress, but I think I am far too impatient and there are too many things that have to be "in order" to do a good job. Screwing up a person's biggest day of their life, is not something I want to do. And while the photos are not actually the point (debatable for some in today's culture), they become the representation of everything that went into it, which after tens of thousands of euros spent, not to mention the hundreds of hours and drama, often boils down to a single image on the bedside table.
Until the divorce.
Which is part of the reason that my wife and I eloped, as it was far less stressful and a lot more fun, as we had to do all the prep-work ourselves and also in secret, with nobody in our circle of friends and family knowing at all. The first they heard of it was when they received a wedding photo of us in the mail.
A selfie.
My hand is behind my back because I was using my phone to fire the shutter.
But it is kind of interesting how much stock we put into recording our lives, where not so long ago, we wouldn't dream about taking a picture of our breakfast or filling a roll of film up with selfies. Now, it is just a constant stream of recoding everything, even when there is nothing of note to record. And, if we miss getting the shot of whatever we are currently doing, we feel disappointed, as if because we don't have a picture of it, it never happened.
It is a devaluation of images where as I have said before, while once upon a time a picture told a thousand words, due to the sheer volume and speed at which we create, consume and move on from each image, they barely get a sentence out before they are forgotten.
Photos used to hold value because they were scarce, for special occasions and to remember the biggest moments of our lives - but now, they are largely worthless - except for sentimental value in the moment, which seems to pass very fast. Unless we have a reason to look back at them, most will be lost to the annals of time until all record of them are gone completely, where their digital fingerprint has been erased.
Because there is essentially no cost to creation, there is also no cost to disposal, which means even the images of the most important times we have lived, get dropped by the wayside fast, as the next event sweeps in to take its place as the object of attention.
I have taken a lot of photos over the last two decades and I am one of the people who does like to capture the moment, but I am glad that at least for some of them, I have a usecase. This means that a lot of the images from times that I have loved or felt important, do not get forgotten, they get remembered, as I seek for a shot to meet the needs of my writing. While the value of the image might be sentimental based on its source, there is also value to others, as having a supporting image rather than a wall of text, makes a difference.
At least for me, I think that things have more value when we are able to use them, rather than have them sit on the mantelpiece, or the bedside table, and images are no different. It is not that all need to be shared, but taking images for a purpose seems to engage me and others I have spoken with more, than taking images just to record the moment. It is something to do with value-adding meaning, but also of observing the moment through a more attentive frame, which increases connection to that moment too.
My memory seems to remember the moment through the images I take, but not necessarily the image itself. When I look back at what I have taken, I remember the way I felt at the moment and the lead up and aftermath. When I am with people at the time, I remember the conversations and the laughs, the moments shared. It is like opening up a mini time capsule window into the past and while the people who consume them through my posts aren't there, it can also help them connect with that moment too, to share the experience somehow.
Images add to the content and can help people better engage with it, remember it, connect their own self to what they are reading. And in my case at least, I feel that a post is more mine, when the images are something I am also connected with, something from me, of me.
They needn't just be, pretty pictures.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]