It’s World Camera Day today – a celebration of photography and its impact on our daily lives. We definitely appreciate the smart little invention that allows us to capture beautiful moments. From black and white films to digital devices that made photography easier for us, our cameras have instantaneously revolutionized the way we take photographs as well as how we view the world.
Image via lovethispic.com
It’s complicated.
On one hand, it’s a fantastic tool.
Birthday celebrations. Graduations. Reunions. Festivals. The squares of our calendars disappear beneath the scribbles of the black marker. Yet, our camera helps provide the details, the colour and emotions that we may forget. Our memories are not infallible and complete, so we make a journal of past events through a device that holds an extraordinarily broad, powerful and enduring appeal.
The camera is a magic pass, granting introverts an access to people without the need for too much exhausting small talks. The familiar click of the shutter button as we hide behind the camera – an acutely pleasurable sensation for us. We watch, we listen and catch a bit of beauty here and there with our lenses.
The camera does the talking, without saying a word. To photographers, taking photos is one way to satisfy a primal need, or a human impulse to express themselves. On the other hand, the beauty the camera holds is also a contradiction of itself.
Image via blog.backdropexpress.com
As much as we love being behind the lens, there is also a chance of losing the opportunity to interact with the people and the places where we’re at. This is because we spend the whole time seeing not with our naked eyes, but through the narrowed scope of a viewfinder, or the pixelated screen of a camera.
As our smartphones become decent cameras, we further migrate to the digital world and take pictures relentlessly. How much is too much?
Perhaps, we’re so obsessed over getting the perfect shot that we forget to immerse ourselves in the culture, sights and sounds of the city we are in. As much as we love the memories behind those lenses, we also hate the way we want to remember the experiences that we record now.
We will always have a love-hate relationship with this craft of art. We dwell upon the issue between capturing moments via photography and experiencing moments without. Observing through a lens has opened people to unexpectedly new perspectives on life, yet capturing the moment also means being behind it, not within it.
The camera sets out to make magic, chases the daylight and freezes us once in a lifetime moment. At the same time, it keeps us from relishing moments or being in the present.
Perhaps, there should always be a balance. We should enjoy the moment of experiencing and then let the camera capture the same thing later. While recording may be the art of forgetting, let’s not fail to appreciate how a single, innocent shot holds the power to make millions visit and feel a particular place, even without being physically present in that very moment.
