On photographs

In his post "Photos don’t capture the moment" Chad has managed to describe precisely some of the thoughts I went through countless times in my head. I often considered buying a "proper" camera but I ultimately always decided against it. Two are the reasons for that decision. 1) I don't like the bulkiness compared to carry around my phone and 2) my phone pictures are good enough. That's what taking pictures is for me: an exercise in accepting that something is good enough.

I am no photographer. I never studied photography, never took a course in photography. I am a casual photographer at best. The pictures I take are nothing but visual anchors, a way to help my mind remember moments in time. I even made a website for myself, to share some of those moments, but that site is in the process of getting retired since I'm moving my moments here on the blog.

But this isn't to say that photos can't be more than just a tool to remember moments from your past. Pictures can be an extremely powerful artistic medium, especially when paired with words. Kissa by Kissa by Craig Mod is precisely that and it is still one of the best things I've experienced in the past couple of years.

What I liked the most about Chad's post is what he was hinting at:

So, I look at this picture as a remembrance of all those things I was experiencing this morning. Not as a perfect capture of it.

You can almost say that for people like us, the best part of a picture is what's not in the picture. It's the result of the picture combined with the memories in our head. And that's why photos still carry that something special with them. It's the medium of serendipity, the medium of calm and stillness. And that is probably why I'm fascinated by them.