Quoted By:
What does photography mean for you?
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I met a girl who is clever.
She travels solo, and she takes THOUSANDS of pictures during her trips. Cliche, I know.
It takes her months to filter through all these pictures. She slowly drip posts these pictures to her Instragram account that no one cares about because she posts objects, not selfies.
While she may sound like your average travel hoe, I realized what she is doing is profound.
She has found a way to make a two week trip last for months. She found a way to savor her experiences. It allows her to focus on the beauty and small moments that surround her. The small flower in the courtyard? Savored. The pretty building facade? Savored. As she curates these pictures to post the best ones to share with her small friend group, she is actively recalling these moments.
I, a cold hearted man of 'logic', shunned photography my whole life. I am not sentimental, I told myself. I don't need to take pictures like a tourist. I can 'live in the moment' without clinging. I am no attention whore. I am stoic. Allow me to breathe life in as it comes and pass through me just the same. Why would taking lower quality pictures of the same things that people have taken pictures of 1000 times do anything for me?
Foolish.
I now see photography as the tool it can be. A way to reconnect with positive emotions. A way to rewire your brain to be grateful and to savor the positive times you're lucky to experience. My silly little life on this silly little planet is utterly meaningless, and that's the point. I am guilty of not savoring. Of not expressing gratitude for the gift. I see it as a way, even, to enhance your brain into elevating experiences you had to make them more powerful. Memory is spotty. It's foolish. Photographs can shape it to tell the story you want.
That's what photography now means to me. Thanks for reading my gay blog post. Now excuse me while I swallow a massive load of cum.
