I started loving taking pictures back in jr. high. My best friend was the accomplished photographer in our group and like a lot of adolescent girls, we devoured fashion magazines thinking we could recreate the shoots we saw. Every hang out became an opportunity to do "a photo shoot," and we did plenty: before school dances, at the lake, in our backyards with wigs and dress up clothes, etc. We loved getting the film back and congratulated ourselves for our ability to appear photogenic. What were we doing? Maybe cultivating a love of beauty, maybe participating in the poisonous culture of vanity and commodity...maybe a little bit of both.
Why do we take photos? To document? To remember? To live out some fantasy? It is a particular challenge to photograph well in today's world. It's a beautiful and problematic medium. As a photographer, there's a pressure for attention and prestige and popularity. And sometimes I wonder what one has to do to accomplish these things: curate and stage moments? Orchestrate a look that is generally accepted as cool? I don't know. What's one to do when all photographs involve a certain amount of curation, orchestration and staging? There's no such thing as a "honest" photo. But photos can be True.
Photography has a powerful way of communicating. And because it's so powerful, it has to be handled with care. And I'm starting think it depends on one's approach. One can aim to get the coolest/prettiest/nicest images possible and one can aim to see something new. Maybe it's a matter of curiousity. I was taught that photography teaches you how to see. I need to remember that this is the approach I need to have every time I hold my camera. Sure, I also want to create something beautiful and excellent, but what am I calling attention to? What am I choosing to look at? With the camera used as a tool, I can view something that ordinarily I'd rush past in a redeemed light. I can focus and see my family for the hilarious, ridiculous, and precious humans that they are, just as they are. I can see the way light transforms shadows and the way colors reflect off our skin. I can appreciate humanity a little bit more after 5 minutes behind a lens because I'm a little bit more awake to creation. Don't I want to be a little more awake?
