Recently, I read this article about how our obsession with taking photos is changing our memory* and it got me thinking: What is the point of taking photos?
It’s something that I’ve asked myself several times, mostly when I feel like my photo taking has gone overboard. While I’m not a selfie sort of person, I do like to take pictures of the world around me (Looking back, the period of time where I discovered HDR and overdid it on almost every photo makes me wish I didn’t have the internet). This habit really ramped up when I started Dayre and basically started documenting everything I did, no matter how mundane it was.
I don’t know what was the trigger, but one day, I started thinking:
Why is it so important I take a picture of this (piece of food/cute cat I see every day/etc)?
I’m definitely not in the “all this photo taking is useless” camp because I like to look back on all these daily photos (especially if they’re of sunsets) but I realised that I have to be a lot more intentional about taking photos. Is it worth holding up an entire table of people so that I can snap a picture of the food that I may never look at again?
Plus, more than just taking up phone space, I realised that taking too many photos makes it hard to fully experience the present. If my mind is fully focused on finding the perfect shot, then my focus narrows to just what looks good and I’m apt to miss the bigger picture.
But you know, sometimes if you don’t take any photos, you end up regretting it because photos can be keepsakes too.
There has to be a balance between excessive photo taking and zero photo taking, but I wonder what that is. I’ve heard people say that apps like Gudak help them to be more intentional, but I’ve always… forgotten to open that app (I take months to finish a roll) and end up using the default camera.
Nowadays, I do a lot of taking and deleting. I’d take a photo, find that it doesn’t look good and isn’t something I want to keep, and then delete it. Which, if you ask me, means that even though my camera roll isn’t as cluttered as before, means that I haven’t broken the photo habit.
I’ve got a family trip this year and these are trips where it’s going to be hard to balance “must capture never before seen scenery” and “must enjoy being on the trip”. I don’t actually have a plan other than being more mindful about this tendency to overdo things, so if you’ve got tips on how you enjoy taking photos without letting it take over, let me know!
*I’m actually quite curious as to what influence you think taking photos have on your memories too. I was thinking of a class trip and some of my strongest memories are actually moments that weren’t captured in photos (although the photos are a great way to reminisce about the trip)! But that’s probably because I had the habit of recording my daily life down back then, which means that I processed what happened at the end of each day as I was choosing what to write and what to leave out, which probably affects memory (I think).
Yeah reading about how taking photos makes you less likely to remember really freaked me out too! But then again I can look back at the photos and remember so….
My habit of taking photos all the time also started with Dayre! It was nice having a use for the photos I did take and then it was a way to create content relevant to my day instead of just writing. I’m glad I did that though because whenever I do look at the photos of my trips or even just mundane days I get transported in my mind – like I can almost feel the weather and the smells and the feeling of being there? IDK Ive been trying to limit the food pics now because it’s just soooo much phone space and now when I go places I’ll take one photo and not like multiples of the same view to capture the best shot. I think limiting to one or two photos really let’s you experience the full thing without giving up the keepsake 🙂
Hahaha I think Dayre really encourages the photo taking of mundane stuff!
Agreed on setting limits for the number of photos! And I think I’m trying to limit the reflex to take photos of every dish but maybe keep it to the more “special” ones (It helps that I have friends who don’t take photos of food at all so not whipping out the phone feels fine too).