The Coming Camerapocalypse
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I feel as if we are on the edge of something. It is as if, just under the horizon, the low rumblings of a societal change are starting grow in and amplify to something that will one day be deafening.
It is 2012 and almost everyone is a photographer.
You can’t hear my tone, so I should explain that is “everyone is a photographer!” with a tinge of nervous excitement not: “everyone is a photograper.” in the embittered tone of a grizzled old photographer, resistant to change.
At first I thought it was my own transformation back to photographer from something else that was more cerebral and skeptical. Someone less art-aware.
Finding inspiring images from others that have undergone a similar profession reassignment, from something to technical to something artful, I somehow went to bed one evening ignorant of art and woke the next morning seeing art in my cheerios.
Was it an awakening or a phase? I’ll let you know in 33 years.
Around me within my non-photography related social circles I’m witnessing friends, colleagues and acquaintances taking the leap, “I’m now a photographer.”
It is as if I could flip through my Facebook contact list and safely put “Studios” or “Photography” after anyone’s name and not mislabel them. The co-owner of the company I work for’s daughter, the lady at the deli I like to eat at, new friends, old friends. Everyone’s a photographer.
...and the damn of it is... they are all good! Many of them great and Most of them better than I.
I can’t help but be distracted by the endless stream of compelling photos, sometimes of visual wonders and other times of the mundane that are photographed with real, natural talent by the people around me.
I love it. I think.
I am really really good at derived repetition and I LOVE taking pictures of things. As I get inundated with this ever overflowing stream of awesome imagery, I can’t help but absorb ideas that I apply in my own modest craft.
Which leads me to... where are we going? What will the future be like with everyone and their brother carrying a camera and using them prolifically?
I don’t know, for sure, but I know it will be well documented!
It is 2012 and almost everyone is a photographer.
You can’t hear my tone, so I should explain that is “everyone is a photographer!” with a tinge of nervous excitement not: “everyone is a photograper.” in the embittered tone of a grizzled old photographer, resistant to change.
At first I thought it was my own transformation back to photographer from something else that was more cerebral and skeptical. Someone less art-aware.
Finding inspiring images from others that have undergone a similar profession reassignment, from something to technical to something artful, I somehow went to bed one evening ignorant of art and woke the next morning seeing art in my cheerios.
Was it an awakening or a phase? I’ll let you know in 33 years.
Around me within my non-photography related social circles I’m witnessing friends, colleagues and acquaintances taking the leap, “I’m now a photographer.”
It is as if I could flip through my Facebook contact list and safely put “Studios” or “Photography” after anyone’s name and not mislabel them. The co-owner of the company I work for’s daughter, the lady at the deli I like to eat at, new friends, old friends. Everyone’s a photographer.
...and the damn of it is... they are all good! Many of them great and Most of them better than I.
I can’t help but be distracted by the endless stream of compelling photos, sometimes of visual wonders and other times of the mundane that are photographed with real, natural talent by the people around me.
I love it. I think.
I am really really good at derived repetition and I LOVE taking pictures of things. As I get inundated with this ever overflowing stream of awesome imagery, I can’t help but absorb ideas that I apply in my own modest craft.
Which leads me to... where are we going? What will the future be like with everyone and their brother carrying a camera and using them prolifically?
I don’t know, for sure, but I know it will be well documented!