So much of our lives are captured and shared in photographs but how many of them are actually true, candid snapshots of the moment? Do we really share informal moments or do we set up every photograph we post on social media?
Photography...photographs...snapshots...Kodiak...film...photo albums...scrapbooks...film canisters...
These things have been a part of my life from my early days. My great uncle was a photographer and worked at camera shop. While he still takes photographs at our family parties, he retired a long time ago from photography as a profession. He sometimes processed his own film, first in the darkroom of his parents' basement, and then in his own darkroom after marrying. A great many of the photographs my uncle took were posed - stand this way, look this way - but there are also a great number of candid shots that record funny moments as well. When he provides us with the disk of photographs he took from our last party, I love going through them to see how memories he was able to capture.
Keeping in mind that what we see - especially online - is only a glimpse of someone's life, we can perhaps extend a more forgiving hand to our loved ones and strangers. I know that when I pick and choose what moments to photograph and share, I do not share those where my children are screaming and crying because they are over tired or mad because they have to put away their toys for dinner. The snapshots we share may look perfect, but we are far from it.
Photographs from my family collection including three from my grandmom's scrapbook and one of my son before he turned one.
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It is so easy to miss the big picture when looking at a snapshot. Great post and good reminder to remember that life is bigger than the image we see. - Lori
ReplyDeleteThanks...I wrote this as much for myself as others.
DeleteThat is so true that so much of what we see isn't "real."
ReplyDeleteYes...for good and bad.
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