The Absence of Photographs

As a photographer, I see, feel, and understand images in a way which most others never will. I understand their aesthetic construction. I consider the human personality behind the camera and what it requires to capture such an image. I understand the manual camera adjustments required to manipulate light in order to interpret reality based on the photographer’s perception. A lot of my life is spent aiming to pictorially capture the essence of a person or situation. The images I create stimulate people’s memories, they revive specific emotion, they drive people to action, and they document events that would perhaps have gone unnoticed in the history of the world. The creation of images and the effects these images produce is one of my passions.

As a child in middle school I read a series of books. As I was reading I was mentally transferred into the imaginary world these books created and everything else around me disappeared. I had a world which no-one, I thought, could ever destroy. This imaginary world couldn’t change because in my head I interpreted the words in a way which no-one else ever would. A number of years later these books were made into a series of movies. All of a sudden everyone around me was interpreting this imaginary world in the way which the movie writers portrayed it. Soon I could not remember the specifics of my world and I also interpreted the words of these books based on the images within the movie. My imaginary world was destroyed.

For a skilled photographer all the images which are created interpret the situation from a specific viewpoint. Last night I went to a bonfire with about 15 close friends. Although I brought my camera I never took it out. The evening was truly an enjoyable one. The memories are sweet and I think I would like to leave them that way. There are many things which I would like to remember without looking at them through the specific interpretation of someone else or through the crisp reality of media.

If one were to follow through with the above conclusion one might ask if I were to get married would I have a wedding photographer at my wedding. My answer to that question would be two fold. First, people are more important than photographs, and a relationship with a pending spouse is far more important than photographs. So as I stand now I think I can say that there are a lot of aspects about my wedding which I wouldn’t mind leaving undocumented. I would prefer to focus on the quality of the relationship in the present. Secondly, last night at the bonfire my sister was unobtrusively moving around to get all the best angles and capture what was happening. Had those images not been created would I be upset? No. Now that the images exist will I enjoy them? Yes. I think I would apply the same reasoning to my wedding if I were to get married.

Life is about relationships. It is not about the creation of media. Photographs serve their purpose, and if God can be glorified through the creation of images I will continue to create them. But at times I can say I truly enjoy the absence of photographs.