Why do we take photographs?
on limitations, beauty, and the outsourcing of memory. plus disposable cameras and why they're so great.
Since I logged off social media, I take a lot less photos with my phone. Without a constant running ‘story’ to update on Instagram or pretty updates to post on Facebook, I just reach for my phone a lot less. But I still take a lot of pictures. I probably average ten or so new photos a day1 and I have well over a thousand photos in my Camera library.
Societally, we’re taking a lot of photos. Teen Vogue tells me that the average person will take 25,000 selfies in their lifetime.2 Worldwide, 1.81 trillion photos are taken every year, which equals 57,000 per second, or 5.0 billion new images per day.3
The first photograph was taken just over two-hundred years ago in 1822 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. “View from the Window at Le Gras,” taken from the second story of his south facing bedroom window, is believed to be the oldest surviving camera photograph.
How far we’ve come from 8 hour+ exposure times and flashes of color and shape. With our ubiquitous handheld devices we can now capture a person’s face in alarming detail - so alarming, in fact, that many people opt for a blurry filter to reduce lines and pores and harsh lighting.
With the invention of photography, art began to change. Whereas an artist’s ability to capture a person’s likeness with precision and detail was formerly one of the primary objectives of art, now there was less need for accuracy. After all, no paintbrush would ever be as precise as the camera lens. So artists moved away from literal representation to symbolic representation, to unique perspectives that could only be found through the lens of the imagination - sweeps of color, impossible angles, outrageous proportions, dreamscapes.4
The portrait artist faded to obscurity and rich people’s foyers,5 a nod to nobler and simpler times. So here we are in 2023 with our thousands of photos lost in a digital cloud. Most of us don’t even realize how compulsively we pull out the camera app - a pretty sunset, a funny bumper sticker, our kid doing a dance.
The other afternoon at the library, as my toddler browsed board books and I lounged on the ground with the baby and a pile of blocks, I watched a mother with her newly mobile daughter. The little girl was pulling to stand and reaching for the delightfully novel toys in front of her - horse figurines, block letters. She reached for a toy sheep and lifted it toward her mother, looking for encouragement or clarification - you could see her little scrunched up face asking, what is this? What is this place? Aren’t you proud of how I picked this up? Instead of excited validation, she was greeted with a phone screen, her mother’s face obscured behind it loudly squealing, ‘look here! look here! peekaboo! peekaboo!’ When the desired smile was finally procured the mother turned away with her phone, her face blank, presumably to edit or post or send the photo. The little girl was left with her toy sheep hanging in mid air looking around, confused.
I don’t want to shame this woman. I’ve done this exact thing hundreds of times - trying to get that cute smile or laugh on camera. In my case, I want to save it for posterity, to send to my husband while he’s at work, or show a friend later on at dinner. But seeing this scene play out in front me made me ask the question, What are all these photos for - really?
I think for many people the answer is clear: For social media. The photographs are the content of our online personas, the external, consumable, sharable, likable, hashtaggable content that creates both our internal and external conception of self.
Without social media I’ve become more aware of how and why I take photos. Not being on social media means I need to be a little needy and pestering in my sharing of photographs. I have to send them directly via text or WhatsApp to friends and family. I can’t ape casualness with a cute caption and watch the likes roll in. I have to engage in one-on-one conversation, something I genuinely enjoy much more. I have gracious friends who ooh and ah over cute babies and pretty sunrises. I hope they genuinely enjoy seeing little glimpses into our days. I certainly enjoy the photos I usually get in return. These photos tend to spark conversations and check-ins and updates. So different from the abstract likes of the social media days.6
But there is still a limit to what photographs can do for us. They can never capture how cute my kids are, for example. I’m just telling you, they can’t. And they can’t capture the sweep of the sunrise or the feeling of a family dinner and good music or the smell of candles burning or a fire lit in the fireplace. But they can remind us of those things.
And that’s how I’ve come to view photographs - as reminders. For all their ‘accuracy’ they are so limited in their ability to capture and hold the preciousness of human life. It is also why I try to only take one or two photos at any point - because if I’m simply seeking a reminder, and not demanding accuracy one or two is more than enough. I’m so frequently disappointed, especially on travels, how poorly my phone camera photos will capture the beauty of a particular vista or hike.
Photography as an art is much different than photography as a means of living (a la the social media posting). I wrote a bit about what photographers like Thomas Joshua Cooper have taught me about the limitations, but also the unique perspectives, of photography here.
For day to day photos, I err on the side of not taking the photo, or taking only one or two.7 For portraits and keepsakes, I invest in having family photos taken once a year by a professional photographer. These photos will be framed, go in albums, given as gifts to family, and grace our Christmas card.8
But here’s what I’ve discovered for capturing authentic feeling genuine moments - wait for it - disposable cameras.9
Yup, those Kodak wind up cameras of yore have been the best thing I’ve found for capturing real smiles, real moments. They don’t feel posed and they don’t feel forced. They feel real. I’m not just a vintage for vintage sake in this instance. They really do take great photos10
Here’s the other thing I love about them. They cost money. Yes, they cost money to buy and they cost money to develop.11 And you only have 28 photos on any given roll. So trying to be mindful of cost, and the limited number of photos you can take, you naturally take fewer photos. Here’s the other really fun part: you have to wait to see the photos. Yup, no redos or getting that smile just right! You just snap and move on with your life. And then weeks or months later you get those photos developed and you’re laughing and smiling at forgotten beautiful moments.
I love photos. I love flipping through old family albums and I love introducing my toddler to scrapbooking.12 But without the outlet of social media to update and seek validation, I realize also how limited photos are in their ability to capture the wonderful chaos that is my life. I don’t want to export my memory - to become so reliant on the phone or the camera that I forget to simply watch and remember. I’ve also found that one blurry Kodak photo can capture more of the feeling of what a person is really like than a perfectly wrought Google Pixel photo can.
I know I’m trying to remember, to hold this time in my hands. Impossible.
So like with all things in this life, especially those things that take so much of our time, attention, and memory, I am asking, what is this for?
We ask so much of this technology.
But it can’t substitute for the real, primary, human thing.
Eyes instead of a lens.
A mother’s face instead of a phone screen.
I have really cute kids - it’s hard to resist!
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/samsung-number-of-selfies-lifetime
https://photutorial.com/photos-statistics/
A similar shift happened in fiction writing - anyone who has read pre 20th century literature knows that you will be bogged down in endless descriptions of landscapes and appearances. With the invention of film, people no longer needed to imagine appearances so much - they were simply shown them. So novels started to move toward the interior life, to the realms of human life that could never be fully or adequately expressed on the screen.
Think of that painting of Rory reading in the Gilmore mansion.
Or worse those times you’d see who didn’t like a photo or post - why didn’t they? They must have seen it? Or how about those people who would watch your Stories who you hadn’t talked to in months, or years?
Well, I try.
With being off social media, Christmas cards have become a genuinely important way of updating and staying in touch with people.
I will say, the indoor shots are pretty badly lit - but outdoor photos come out great.
I use Dale Laboratories . They send you a packing label, you send the camera in, and you’ll get digital scans back (and you can opt for physical prints as well).
A really fun activity to do with little ones and they will love to see pictures of themselves!
I enjoy taking photos but hardly ever post any to social media. I do take a lot of photos of trees when I am out on my nature walks, so there’s that 😊
Thank you for sharing that tidbit about the very first photograph. I find little bits of information like that so interesting! ✨
As one who has inherited lots of family photos, I love looking at them, but only the ones with people in them. All the scenery means nothing to me, except as establishing time and place. I also like to remind my friends as they become grandmothers to not just be the one snapping photos. Get in the picture, and get photographed as you really are, not just as your best formal self. With any luck your grown grandchildren will look back searching for things they remember or things they see mirrored in themselves. I had been using Facebook as a kind of photo diary, but have switched back to actually creating photo books. My grandkids don't live nearby, so when we share a special time together, I curate a photo book with text details to send to them. Even if they don't pay much attention to the books, the creation process cements my memories. I do still use social media to connect with distant family and friends, but with filters set to post only to this small group. I also filter my feed to show the "friends" or "following" feeds. I can't set these filters permanently, but as long as I check the feed filters every time, I don't get lost down rabbit holes. Sorry for the dissertation, but I love how you are exploring this topic.