Digital photography is the eugenics of images.
Anything out of focus can be destroyed. You need never again see a bad photo of yourself, eyes shut or mouth open. We can all be thinner, prettier, more sympathetically lit than we really are.
It’s Stepford perfection though; we can’t be real unless we’re defined by our mistakes too. We’re not beautiful without our uglier moments.
A world where everyone looks amazing all the time is a world of white noise where I don’t want to live.
For something truly perfect, you need to look at film: higher highs, lower lows, lifelike.
[100 Words is back. Please comment, email or Tweet at me with the #100Words hashtag with suggested topics for future 100 Word posts. Thanks to Alyson for this one.]
100 Words: Fog
17 hours ago
Posts
15 comments:
I think digital photography has allowed a more free expressin within photography. It doesn't cost anything to take a 1000 photos and look at them. Ones which would never have been taken in the days of film photography now get taken all the time. Far from eradicating the inperfect we see more of it, in a more accessible form. We all have friends on facebook who publish our worst pics the morning after the wild night before.
very good.
I sympathise with your sentiment
I save the good ones to files on the hard drive, which get cloud backed up. The bad ones become part of my slide show that runs across the screen when idle.
I always have the best time when I'm looking my worst.
I highly appreciate what you said although I am the first one to press the delete button at unflattering photos of myself.
Lately, I've come to realize that I have to quit doing that and have let some pass through that I never would have allowed in the past, in an effort to be less self-critical. I think it stems from feeling poorly about myself rather than any sense of narcissism--or is that simply where narcissism stems?
Why feel worse about yourself than you already do when you don't have to? I'm trying not to think of it that way these days.
When out and having fun and someone starts clicking, oh no.... That means we're exposed to someone's social media page where we potentially look awful and have no say about it. It's the way of the world these days. We have to bend a bit and look a bit awful, don't we. And that's okay.
I hate pretty much all photos of myself, which probably speaks volumes that I'd rather not dissect. So, yes, I delete pics frequently. But I do agree that to photoshop life to within an inch of itself is disingenuous at best. Pandering to an increasingly brittle world of white noise fills me with dread, it shouldn't all be sparkling and who doesn't prefer a bit of patina?
Your first sentence is perfect.
I completely agree but also, I disagree a little.
This digital stuff is easier to edit, easier to keep pressing the shutter until everything is just so, easier to be selective. It totally feeds into short attention spans and instant gratification.
But also it's kind of magic.
Hmm, yes.
I think all those perfect photos are creating an insane desire for an unachievable perfection and thus a generation of self-esteem issues. I am pretty sure we'll see some weird effects in upcoming years.
Scary!
Bring back film! And prints!
Besides, they're pretty and better for hanging.
If we're beautiful by being defined by our mistakes than I must be gorgeous! Ha. Good post. The digital age is a very interesting thing. I wonder what the history books will have to say about us 50 years from now.
Makes me nostalgic for my first Box Brownie.
yay, the 100 word posts are back!
*LOVE*
Glad I gave you something useful for once. :) I never was terribly good at coming up with 100 word post ideas.
I love my digital camera, but there's something about the process of developing film, of darkrooms, and a camera bag bursting with equipment that seems...romantic.
And here I am having my husband take photo after photo of me for my new blog (where I'll probably end up using an old one anyway) in hopes of getting the perfect shot/angle/lighting/expression.
And he's laughing at me because he loves me in between.
An interesting response to this one. I'm glad it divided opinion because although I took a position, I know there's more to it than that.
So actually I agree with The fearless threader that in general it's possible to see some horrendous photos of people you know plastered across Facebook - just not in my house, where they're all deleted.
Christine's right too though - digital photography is sort of magic isn't it? But then so, in its day, was Polaroid, and now it just seems to be the province of pretentious hipsters.
(Oh, and thanks wupppy - hope you're enjoying them!)
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