I've been taking more photos lately, just in moments, nice distributions of light, or times when a mysterious bird appears. I've missed taking blurry pictures of happy little things. Last weekend I took these. A perfect sunset appeared.
I don't know, I like trying to take pretty pictures (and looking at lots of photographic inspiration), but I always love taking candid pictures, blurry pictures, overexposed pictures, and those pictures that capture a strange yet perfect moment. Some of the best ones I'll keep to myself, because the picture itself is ugly or maybe just a bit too personal to share (I love getting pictures of people falling over or making ugly faces or holding a big pizza slice).
Actually, I recently took a picture of my grandma to use a SNOW app filter on her (probably to give her some bunny ears or something) and she quickly told me to delete it. I actually already had, because I knew she would want me to, and it wasn't really an interesting picture anyway, but I think it would be great if we could all be less concerned with looking ugly and be happier laughing at and enjoying those kinds of photos of ourselves. I'll have to include a weird photo of myself in this post now that I've said that... (look at the last photo in this post and laugh at me as much as you want)
Blur is particularly great though because it shows the motion of life. We can never truly be still, because we're always breathing and moving hormones around and stuff like that. So it's fitting that some of the most beautiful pictures have that wispy residue of movement. It's good.
This cat is a mean cat who will fight you. He has kind of a scary meow. He might be a demon.
I saw this on a canal boat and had to take a picture.
We went on a river picnic and found a heron, which just stood there quite happily. I've probably never been so close to a heron before.
And who is this person? Seems like a ghost who works in an office briefly stole my camera.
It's a shame when people hate photos of themselves, I'm like it (I think I learnt it from my mum). But I've always thought about photos not being a 'real' look of someone because of the stillness and the flatness compared to seeing someone with your eyes. I like the idea of blurry photos being closer to how you actually see something.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think that's a really good way to think about it, because truly there's a limit to how accurately we can really be represented in a photo. Movement and mannerisms are as much a part of as our physical bodies, and we can't exist without movement and expression. And you're right, I think that is why blurry photos can seem magical, because they capture something genuine with the motion that you can see being framed in that tiny moment. And photos should be more about a moment than a person's likeness, really, because you can never capture or record a whole person in all their facets. I hope thinking about things like that helps you to enjoy pictures of yourself more, whatever they look like.
DeleteLove all of these pictures! What you're saying is so true with the way we are so easy to delete things and place scrutiny over ourselves. This is why I love shooting on film with stills or moving image.. you can't go back! And that has some beauty in it.
ReplyDeleteYES! I really love film for its outtakes as much as for its uniquely beautiful aesthetic.
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