Finalized draft of photography blog post for blog.

6 years ago · 74c449c5d5
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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.
 [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 young. I was obsessed with taking photos
 of anything from my toys to the breathtaking scenery of state parks. Most of the photos I took were distorted gibberish: random fragments
 of trees and stuff lying around in my back yard. However, back then photo quality did not matter to me,
 the important thing was that I was preserving, capturing, and
 digitizing something real and breathtaking. Back then, 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 fell 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 sky".  
 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 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.
 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 annually 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 current trend
 to ditch social media. 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 a week at work
 and then program even more as a hobby -- this is a perfect recipe for burnout.
 Photography is a great way to spend free time since it is intellectually simulating, yet not
 super rigorous and tiring. Photography encourages you to get
 out and explore new places. In photography you are always learning, growing, and improving.
 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.