So, maybe I have just grown bitter because I am growing older, but I really hate photography lately. Anyone that I know who would actually read this would probably be offended by this idea, but I seem to have lost the connection I used to have with taking pictures. I don't really know what happened, I think it's because I haven't shot with film in almost a year and shooting with a digital camera always kind of makes me feel cheap and robosluttish. But not really, because before even digital photography served as some type of catharsis for me. Aight, maybe catharsis is an overstatement....but at least something I always enjoyed doing.
But now I just don't see the fun in it. It could also have to do with the photography I've been seeing lately (especially in magazines) and how much I hate all of it and how much I hate how other people love it. If nothing else, photography should be representational of something naturally occuring. Commercial photography seriously makes me want to die a little bit. I guess there's nothing wrong with setting up photoshoots, but the extent of that should really only be the surrounding. I completely disagree with photograhers who dictate and manipulate every possible aspect of a photograph. Especially when a photographer has such a defined image of the picture they want they force models to look a certain way or express a certain emotion that the model is NOT feeling. That forced feeling almost always continues through a photograph to its viewer, in my opinion, making for an awkward photo. The best photography is the sort that by some fantastic opportunity entirely pure and untainted moments were captured (this is rare, people usually get self-concious in front of cameras) or the type that is completly untrying and simply just happens to document something that is in and of itself already fantastic. And maybe it's just been pissing me off that nothing in my life lately has been so dramatically awesome that it's out of my power to pursue the type of photography I deem necessary for excellence. I am completely ranting right now, but it's been a long time comin'.
Wait. I completely agree. It's Sabrina stalking you by the wayyy sorry not to be an exciting stranger. I'm seriously no photographer but when I have one in my hand I'm always the creep taking pictures when no one is paying attention. People honestly make their most beautiful faces when they're not paying attention.
ReplyDeleteAnd being a model for some of my friends can I just say it frustrates me so much to have someone tell me what direction to look, how to smile, where to place my hands...it's so. annoying. Models aren't just models, theyre people, and I'd like to think the photographer's job is to essentially capture both their vision and the model's character in a shot. The coexistence of those two should culminate in an amazing shot.
HAHA im such a creep. but i so agree.