Photography, my beef

[Mucha_Man]

@almas john

Not jealous are we? Actually, I think he’s a bit of a tosser, and overrated. Photographs are good for recalling details, whether it’s an amateur artist taking pics of a landscape or a writer taking photographs for the ‘colour’ or for details.

No, what on earth would make you think that? I admire much of Theroux’s writing in particular the Iron Rooster. My point of course was that the digital camera is an invaluable tool for the writer. If older travel writers didn’t have to make use of cameras to record impressions it is likely because few people could counter their descrioptive claims so they could rely on recording impressions later.

The Internet and the digital camera mean that you have to get things right. I doubt Theroux would had made those comments today.

[cfimages]

@sandman

They have these things called “photowalks” you know. Where they go around all taking pics of the same stuff. Its downright weird.

The next Photowalk is actually going to solve the age old question once and for all of what a Scot wears under his kilt. You’ll be the model so don’t be late.

[divea]

[quote]Digital cameras are even worse. Click, view, wipe. Click, view, wipe. Digital cameras push people even further into making no effort to look and think. Click, click click, go home, download, sleep. It is like you were never at the event in the first place.

[/quote]

Its not entirely true. My camera wasn’t on for a full 30 mins, but every now and then the works got tantalizing or I just wanted to capture the mood of the place. Its like making a mental note, instead of pausing and doing that, might as well take a pic and refresh the memory later.
There is also a deep seated need, to take a shot, that initiates discussion, gets a compliment from Maoman and gets people to quote Theroux, and an oblique criticism of CFi! LOLOLOL

[TomHill]

[quote=“divea”][quote]Digital cameras are even worse. Click, view, wipe. Click, view, wipe. Digital cameras push people even further into making no effort to look and think. Click, click click, go home, download, sleep. It is like you were never at the event in the first place.

[/quote]

Its not entirely true. My camera wasn’t on for a full 30 mins, but every now and then the works got tantalizing or I just wanted to capture the mood of the place. Its like making a mental note, instead of pausing and doing that, might as well take a pic and refresh the memory later.
There is also a deep seated need, to take a shot, that initiates discussion, gets a compliment from Maoman and gets people to quote Theroux, and an oblique criticism of CFi! LOLOLOL[/quote]

This moment of pleasure was brought to you by the brains behind the people behind the team who write as TomHill. (Caveat emptor, TomHill is written by one man with many personalities, and very little brains.)

I understand the need to capture a mood for further reflection, or if you are an author and need a mental jog. I don’t get the need to document every living moment of an event with pictures, or to miss the beauty of a moment because ‘Jane in accounting likes rainbows, so I must get this picture to show her.’ Don’t show me what your dinner looked like, I have a pretty good mental image of a Spaghetti Bolognaise. Please describe the tastes, the smells. Or the holiday classics… me getting up, me walking to breakfast, me sitting down to breakfast, me talking to the waiter, me deciding what to eat, me asking a waiter to take a picture of me with my breakfast, me with my breakfast, a solo breakfast shot, half breakfast, an emty plate, me looking full, me walking back to my room.
Fark. Just enjoy your experience.

[cfimages]

Oh, and speaking of Photowalks. Next Sunday (15th) around 3 or 3:30pm. Dihua St. Be there.

[sandman]

[quote=“the legion that is TomHill”]Or the holiday classics… me getting up, me walking to breakfast, me sitting down to breakfast, me talking to the waiter, me deciding what to eat, me asking a waiter to take a picture of me with my breakfast, me with my breakfast, a solo breakfast shot, half breakfast, an emty plate, me looking full, me walking back to my room.
Fark. Just enjoy your experience.[/quote]
Classic post.

[almas_john]

@Mucha Man

[quote=“almas john”]Not jealous are we? Actually, I think he’s a bit of a tosser, and overrated. Photographs are good for recalling details, whether it’s an amateur artist taking pics of a landscape or a writer taking photographs for the ‘colour’ or for details.[/quote] No, what on earth would make you think that? I admire much of Theroux’s writing in particular the Iron Rooster.

I was joking. Projecting my own feelings of jealousy toward Theroux onto you.

[Elegua]

Dunno. I see your point, and I hate the intrusion of the camera, but memory is fallible and needs cues. If not remembered, then the experience is lost forever. What is funny is how your memory re-shapes itself around the pictures that were taken, even if you remember the picture as being unimportant.

Now, let’s all stand on the cliff making a V sign.