Photographs

Someone close to me served as a photographer for an event because pictures were requested for a social media site.  Throughout the evening, this person took many pictures.  In fact, they recounted that about 80 pictures were taken with various individuals.  People attending who would normally take pictures with their cell phones put their phones away because they saw him navigating the crowd taking photographs.

When it came time to upload the pictures to the social mediate website, he discovered that the setting on the camera had been turned to the wrong spot and every picture was solid black.  Not one of the 80 pictures turned out.  Yikes.  Thankfully, one attendee had taken five pictures on their phone prior to the photographer’s arrival, so a handful of pictures existed to document the event.  Disappointing for sure, but certainly not catastrophic.

As I reflected upon people’s responses to the lack of pictures, I drew some conclusions.  First, it is always a good idea to check progress along the way.  Had the photographer looked back at the camera roll periodically they might have caught the error.  Secondly, it is a good practice to have a back-up plan as people stopped taking pictures when they saw a photographer present (although understandable since it can create confusion when there is more than one person engaged in a task). 

My biggest take-away, however, is to question why we are so tethered to pictures and social media to document the modern world.  We rely so heavily on instant feedback, technological connections, and permanently captured moments that we forget the actual living came in being at the event.  The experience of just being present at the special occasion should suffice.  Pictures are great because they help us recall details from the event, but essentially the memories should come from within.  This is one reason that social media can be a slippery slope to engage in.  When we start living through the experiences of others or rely on the highlight reels captured in photos to tell a story, we run the risk that we miss the opportunities presented when we just soak in life as it comes our way.

The event wasn’t any less successful or less meaningful because there weren’t 80 pictures of it.  The five pictures were sufficient to say that many loving people gathered together at a celebration.  The rest of the details can be filled in by sharing the memories with one another directly through real conversations and writings.

Changepoints:

When have you noticed a preoccupation with taking pictures instead of living the moment:

·      How would it have felt to set the camera or phone down and soaked up the memory? 

·      How often do you crop or edit pictures to make the photos appear as polished as possible?  How does this run the risk of creating a false narrative of the story?  In what ways could the same be occurring when you observe pictures of others?

·      Who is a good model of engaging in the moment while still allowing themselves permission to document it when appropriate?

·      Why is the pressure so great to project an unending river of perfectly manicured pictures or highlight-reel stories?

o   What does this do for the way we process the world around us?

o   How can we actively engage in the world in a different way?

 

Photographs are just one tangible symbol of the potential to get swept into the trap of becoming preoccupied instead of fully present. 

outSIGHTin, LLC: Creating awareness as a changepoint for improved organizational results.