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April 03, 2004

why photography?

Last evening I was in a bar called "the Bunghole". Yeah, I thought the name was pretty funny too, haha!. Turned out the place was actually a very nice wine bar (bungholes having something to do with wine barrels). Very well dressed businessmen mostly populated it. Upon leaving, two of these three-piece business-suited men at the next table tried to get us to chat with them and started up a conversation:

"You're not CITY people, ARE you?" one of them leered. "Um, no" I said "we're photographers." I thought this was the best way to maybe get them to shut up. Of course it wasn't, and they proceeded to ask us many questions, of which I managed to get out of by saying I had another engagement and fleeing the pub. Their line of questioning was the usual sort of photography talk I cannot stand, which was why I left so quickly. "What kind of camera do you use?" was the first thing they asked. Gear talk bores me to tears, and I can only stand it if I happen to be in the market for a piece of equipment at the time. It's really disappointing that most people only want to talk about cameras. I joined a few photography communities on orkut, and sadly these have only gone into the same areas.

There is one community though, that encouraged non-technical talk about photography, but it stands nearly empty. So I posted this in response to a thread that began with these questions: Why do you carry a camera around? Why do you take pictures?

I like to be able to create art of out thin air. Taking a photo is freezing a moment in time and turning it into a two-dimensional image. It's not about capturing anything, its more about creating something different. A photograph is not real or true to life, it is only a very tiny piece of it. A picture is my own view of the world, or how I would like to see it, not how it is. A photograph is a way to edit out the world around me, and just take the bits I like. Taking photos is a way of being able to see the everyday art and beauty of the world. And then be able to put it in my pocket.

Posted by shannon at April 3, 2004 01:37 PM

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