Photography: Documenting Life With Still Images
“There are two kinds of photographers: those who compose pictures and those who take them. The former work in studios. For the latter, the studio is the world…. For them, the ordinary doesn’t exist: every thing in life is a source of nourishment.” – Ernst Haas Taking pictures, for many people, is as natural as breathing. We take pictures for joy, to reflect an idea, to capture a special moment or documenting our connection with others and, in general, with life. Pictures can represent everything for many people. It is not uncommon to hear stories about a person trying to save the most beloved possessions in the event of a fire: pictures. In his article The Science Behind Why We Take Selfies, James Kilner says “reading and responding correctly to other people's facial expressions is essential for successful social interactions.” We take pictures as a way to connect with the world around us. We need to understand it, simplify its mysticism in smaller chunks of information we can process and record for future reference. We need to compare our perspective of reality with that of others. A picture is as much of a keepsake as it is a proof of our presence in this world.
2
Loretta Graziano Breuning says, “You are hard-wired to care about what you leave behind when you're gone.� Leaving a legacy is part of our human nature. Steve Jobs left a legacy for Apple and the technology world. Mother Teresa of Calcutta imprinted her name in history with charitable actions. In a similar fashion, we all attempt to leave a legacy of our own, and for many of us, pictures represent the most direct method (and perhaps the most efficient one) to document our short time in this world.