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- John Green's recent video on
- [Vlogbrothers](https://www.youtube.com/vlogbrothers) got me thinking a
- lot about why I take photos and the impact that social media has had
- on my journey in photography.
-
- <youtube src="8gdJiNqP35k" />
-
- I first got into photography when I was in forth grade. I was obsessed
- with taking photos of anything from my toys to the breathtaking
- scenery of state parks. Most of the photos that I took were distorted
- gibberish: random fragments of trees and stuff lying around in my back
- yard. Back then photo quality did not matter to me, the enthralling
- thing was that I was preserving, capturing, and digitizing something
- real and breathtaking. Photography was a tool, allowing me to archive
- and remember the past: a way of stamping reality. John Green in his
- videos said "I sometimes feel like something isn't really real unless
- I've documented it, as if my memories and even my life will just slip
- past like the clouds through last night's sky".
-
- I lost interest in photography shortly after I started middle school.
- The only photography that I did do was for social media. Apps like
- Snapchat and Instagram demand a constant stream of photos to bombard
- your friends with. This is how I slowly learned that photography is a
- "cropping of reality". I frequently found myself searching for that
- right moment to take a photo and turn it into a Snapchat story. This
- is not a huge issue; it is okay to share your experiences with people
- you care about. However, we need to recognize that we present a
- polished version of ourselves on social media.
-
- Despite acknowledging the vast distance between photography on social
- media and reality, it is hard for our minds to quantify the stark
- differences between these worlds. I take issue with people who do
- anniversary posts where they share senior ball or vacation pictures
- with a short caption. These anniversary posts aim to artificially
- inflate someones appearance on social media when in reality their
- lives are quite normal. In response to the negative aspects of social
- media, there is a growing trend to ditch social media altogether.
- Although "comparison is the thief of joy", quitting social media is
- not the only solution. Only following close friends, limiting app
- usage, and only using messaging centered apps are all great ways to
- reap the benefits of social media while avoiding most of the negative
- consequences.
-
- Enough of my social media tangent, lets get back to photography. I
- recently got back into photography as an artistic hobby rather than a
- means of archiving events or creating content for social media. As a
- programmer, it is exhausting to write code for forty hours at work and
- then program even more as a hobby -- this is a perfect recipe for
- burnout. I find that photography is a great hobby since it is
- intellectually simulating, yet not super rigorous and tiring.
- Photography encourages you to explore new places and meet new people.
- In photography you are always learning, growing, and improving. I
- really enjoy watching movies; however, I don't believe that it's a
- great hobby since there is no personal growth.
-
- I am obsessed with photography for the same reason I love programming:
- there is a constant creative drive to make and share something new
- with the world. In Mr. Robot Elliot said "In a world where everything
- is a virtual copy of itself, where there's nothing but image, where
- publicist have publicists and celebrity is bleakly industrial, it's
- inevitable that 'image' starts to collapse on itself...". You have
- probably heard that there is no more original content being created
- anymore, everything is simply an image of an image of an image. With
- the sheer quantity of content being created, it is close to impossible
- to be the first person to do something. When I start working on a
- programming project or go to a park to take some pictures, I am
- frequently asked, "why are you doing that when others have already
- done it". It is now impossible to be the first person to create a
- social media app or photograph a waterfall; but, that does not make it
- pointless to go out and create. Art is something that needs to be
- constantly shaped, customized, tweaked and perfected. I am confident
- that the best picture of a waterfall has not been taken yet. We are
- still a long way away from creating the perfect social media app.
- Despite everything being an image of an image, learning from other
- will help us grow as creators and develop our own unique style.
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