Why I take photos

I've had a digital camera for as long as I can remember. I actually did bring myself to finally toss the old print camera. It weighed about a ton, I believe. I cringe when I remember how much I spent on developing prints, and usually only liked a few shots per roll of film even then.

I have two types of photo-taking modes:

1. Archival: To help me remember or capture the essence of a trip, a thing, a person, an event, a moment.

2. Because I like how something looks. I tend to like interesting patterns, textures, colour contrasts, play of light.



I've noticed that context matters a lot when it comes to appreciating photos, and that part of a good photographer's skill is to be able to crop an interesting photo out of a mediocre one, to see the beauty or photo-worthy elements in what most people would barely notice. Almost anyone can take a good photo of a gorgeous sunset or a beautiful flower.

I'm still working on this.

I tend to enjoy photographing people more than I do inanimate objects. It's a challenge, because most people feel self-conscious in front of the camera, or they're moving. I'm happy when I manage to take a photo that captures the essence of how I see a particular person, especially someone I like. It's why I try not to post unflattering photos (distorted mouths mid-word or mid-chew, etc.) unless they're mugging on purpose. :-)



Because of this, I never post ALL the photos I take; some people have asked me to do so after a convention, but I say no. Main reason: I take a zillion because I know I'll end up dumping at least 3/4 of my photos, probably more. The only times I keep a bad photo is when it's my only record of an event or object I'd really like to remember. And even after my editing, I'll only post a fraction of the ones I keep.

Anyway, I started thinking about the whole photo-taking thing while I was archiving some of our Japan trip photos from 2001 on Flickr; feel free to take a peek if you'd like. Somewhat sobering to see the photos near the end of the trip; Jeff and I were supposed to fly home on Sept.11th.

Speaking of Japanese things, I'm going to kill my friend Ray for sending me a link to this MPEG, whose insidious little jingle has been going through my head over and over AND OVER recently AAAUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH.

Going to the new house later today...

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