"Dead Poets Society" a classic movie with an iconic actor
But why do we feel like that? And what is it about capturing the past or a certain time in the present? To preserve memories? I mean today, today is the Selfie Age. People take selfies ALL THE FRICKIN TIME. And not just to capture that memorable moment but to just take a picture. What is that need? Why? What how who when where why???
First let's answer this question cuz I'm all over the place and obviously didn't think this through much before writing it for you guys:
What is a photograph exactly and how did it come into this world?
Okay so check this out. Wikipedia says that the word "Photograph" was coined in 1839! Wow, such a long time ago. And it's got a very cool meaning attached to it.
*British voice* The word "photograph" "is based on the Greek φῶς (phos), meaning "light", and γραφή (graphê), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light"." (Wikipedia: Photograph).
I love British accents. Makes anything sound important and makes anyone sound sophisticated.
Drawing with light. A photograph means to draw with light. SO COOL! :D
I did NOT know that. Here is the link to the coiner of "photograph" who was a photographer himself.
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet
The first ever photograph of the real world was in 1826 or 27 and it wasn't that Herschel guy but someone else. I'll put the main linky link at the end of all this.
The first ever photograph experience required camera exposure (Year: 1822). TONS. Like hours and days.
Do you know what exposure is? It's when you leave the camera photo-taking moment on pause and put the camera where you want to expose it and leave it there for hours on end. That's how people do that special thing, you know, those who make those nature documentary scenes where you can see the starry night turning into a sunny day or when you can see a flower bloom in like 5 seconds. That's exposure.
It was really inconvient to have to do exposure when you really didn't need to. Taking a still photo and needing to leave the camera out by it's lonesome for hours on end...poor little bitty camera! :0
It was a while until that same Herschel guy started to experiment with color photography. They had to get the cameras right, first. The first experiemental color photo was in 1842. But it didn't become a big enough thing until the mid-1930s when people got a bit smarter and started to tap into color film and layers of color and all that cool stuff. Finally a decade later we can see color film and color photos. So yeah. It took about a century from 1822 to the 1940s for Human Brain and Evolution Stuffs to finally get how to make color films and color photos.
OKAY. Now we know wha da heck "photographs" are and how the kinds we know today came into this world.
The main linky link: Wikipedia-Photograph
The next question is:
Why do we WANT TO BOTHER taking pics? I've heard some people take hours sometimes trying to get the best selfie and take hundreds of photos. SO MUCH PRODUCTIVE TIME WASTED!
So why da heck do we even bother? I mean, the human memory is already incredible as it is. And, how often DO you look back at old photos ANYway?
*snickers* This guy says the best thing:
"Stop taking pictures. Please. We must be living in the most thoroughly documented time ever," says Ira Hyman (Psychology Today: Photographs and Memories-Make memories, not photographs 2013).
YES! This is probably the most thoroughly documented time ever. You sir, are so right, I couldn't agree more.
Let me use Ira Hyman as my base of research bits here. So, here are the pros of taking pics according to Ira Hyman.
Reviewing pics can help us refresh our memories.
Parents and children can bond through reviewing memories. You know, like sitting on the sofa together with Mom and Dad and remembering those good times of vacation and stuff.
But according to Ira Hyman, this only works if you ACTUALLY review the pics. Unless, I guess, if all your family including you have photographic memory then you don't need to worry about reviewing you just search inside your files and files of memory database that is in your Brain Library.
The cons. So, the cons are based on a study that Ira Hyman refers to and you can read his article it's not such a hard read. He makes it snicker-worthy, too :)
When we take pics, we often do a LOT of adjusting. Focus, filters, zoom or not, lighting, and for people, smile or not smile? Funny face or not funny? Pose or no pose? Hair or no hair, clothes out or in and under and over and then up for air pa is rich ma is rich oh now what do we care!
Ha :D
Apparently when we do all these things, there is a higher chance we won't remember why we took that pic or what we felt when we saw this or that because our memory would focus on the adjustments that we had to make and it doesn't get stored the way we want it to.
"Taking a photo led to worse recollection. In some ways it’s almost as if the act of taking a pictures allows you to not remember. I have a picture, so I don’t need to remember – I can always look at the picture later (which, again, we don’t really ever do)," (Psychology Today, Hyman.)
This is true. I'll take a picture of something just to store it away in "memory" thinking that by taking the pic I don't need to put in the effort to physically remember it cuz oh I can just go back to the pic and look at it and remember then.
But then, of course I won't really remember what I felt there and then or even WHY DA HECK I took a pic of that little flower there or that cookie or whatnot.
Apparently, pictures can even mess with our memory. We can be fooled that it wasn't like how we remember it but what the picture shows. Like, hey I remember seeing a big bowl of cherries when we went down to the beach but when I look at the photo, wait, there isn't a big bowl but a small bowl. Maybe I didn't eat as many cherries as I thought...hmm.
You know, that kind of thing. It messes with our brains.
"How many of your childhood memories resemble the pictures that you parents took? Is it your memory or their picture?" (Psychology Today, Hyman).
I have a lot of memories like this. And it's not just photos. Even family videos or just stories from my parents. Like, hey I don't remember it like that, I remember it like this! I can't be wrong!
He concludes: "So put down the camera. Experience your life. Remember your experiences," (Psychology Today, Hyman).
So my answer to my own question of why we bother would be, to preserve memory or to accumulate things that we think will help us remember the thing we saw.
Though in actuality, we may not remember that thing we saw and memories can only be retrieved if we review the pics. Which we hardly have time to do, I mean, come on, who has so much leisure time these days!
I feel like there are lots of stuff I haven't addressed but let's move on.
Why do we take selfies? For me, actually, I don't like having my picture taken or taking pics of myself so I don't know why from personal experience...but one reason I can guess is to be a little boastful.
This can go two ways.
Boastful to Brag: So when we take Selfies, er, rather when you take Selfies (cuz I don't) you want to show people how put together you are, how NOT put together and oh such a poor little thing you are, how cool or fancy or silly you are, or how beautiful you are. You want to show your friends, followers, fans, that this is you in everyday life and you're rockin' it or you're not and you want sympathy.
Boastful to Level-Up: This one is for yourself. You take pictures when you feel good about yourself or when you WANT to feel good about yourself. People in the States or Europe or other English-speaking countries are pretty open about not feeling good about themselves and feeling depressed so if you have a day when you feel pretty or cool and you take a Selfie it boosts your self-esteem and it seems like lots of people are lacking that in this digital age (maybe not just this age but I feel like there are lots of people with low self-esteem in this digital age...is it just me or...?)
Another reason that I can think of is to be of inspiration to others.
Say you were diagonosed with cancer and you had to shave all your hair off and you feel so low in life but you want to tell other cancer patients that you're rockin' life no matter what so you take a Selfie to show yourself to others. You use yourself to inspire.
Which is good, of course.
Then there are those people (maybe some of you guys) which I just don't understand. Those who take Selfies ALL THE TIME!
I am eating lunch...SELFIE!
I am walking home...SELFIE!
I am about to put in contacts...SELFIE!
I just talked to my friend that I meet everyday at school...SELFIE!
I am waiting at a stoplight in my boring car...SELFIE!
What is this thing? I mean, I don't care what the heck you're doing every minute of the day! I don't care about those little bitty things! Geesh!
If any of you do do this constant selfie stuffs, tell me, why? Just WHY????
LAST QUESTION! I promise.
Why do we feel like the photographs of the past (mostly that have something to do with a tragic event in history) talk to us?
I don't think Selfies talk to us. But it seems that pics like these do.
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| 9.11 Aftermath |
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| A teen taking a pic of the pics at the Tribute Center Ground Zero. |
The second photo is quite interesting. What does that teen hope to gain by taking a pic of the pics?
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| World War 2 pic |
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| Korean War |
These pics...do they talk to you? Do they look like a message from the past? Are these people really trying to tell us something? What about the people behind the photographs? Are the photographers trying to capture something unsaid here?
What about if it's not people?
You guys might or might not know this but my specialty wild animal is the tiger. The orange pelt with the black stripes, as I like to say.
This was back in 2011 in Russia. An Amur tiger was caught in a terrible snare by some poachers after ever single itty bitty part of the tiger. If you don't know, tigers are a big target for poachers and they are sold for their fur, claws, teeth, and everything else. And I mean EVERYTHING. Like, probably nothing goes to waste.
You can see the urgency in its eyes. Finally freedom. No more pain. Finally back into the snowy forest home. It makes me a little emotional when I see this. More tigers should be in this position. They should not have to fear for their lives AT ALL. They should ALWAYS be free running through the forests, running through the snow, and melting into the shadows of the leaves camouflauged and hidden, Kings of the Forests, Kings of the Russian Far East, and too majestic to describe in able words... (Me trying to be dramatic and trying to use my Creative Writing skills).
Okay, I'm back to mah nice sarcastic random self now :)
DO photographs talk to us? If it is impactful and if it has some deep meaning, or if it is a moment in history then yes, it might. But a selfie? Nah, not a chance.
Let me humbly post a pic I took and we'll see if it talks.
I remember I found myself explaining to someone who was passing by why I was taking the picture because it felt like I needed to explain why I was taking a pic of a puddle. Does the pic talk to me? Maybe not emotionly but it DOES bring memories. Ah memories...I miss those guys over there...*sighs with sentimental emotions if that's even a thing*
In a sense of a kind of summary summery sense:
Photograph means "drawing with light".
We bother to take pics to try to preserve memory or to use later as a memory trigger but this does not always work for us. It can at times mess with our memory or not help at all.
There are two reasons that I think are the reasons we take selfies. One is Boastful to Brag and the other is Boastful to Level-Up. We also take them to inspire others.
Pics from the past (mostly from points of time in history such as wars or great incidents such as 9.11) can talk to us emotionally. Even pics of animals that are meaningful to us (maybe just me?) can also convey some message to us.
Yet, pics don't always talk to us. They may just evoke some memory or sentimental emotion (if that's even a thing).
I bolded the letters just so I don't have to use bullets. The bullet system in here makes everything condensed. Which is okay but sometimes not so very much.
"Drawing with light," eh? Ah so cool :D
See ya later, alligators!
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