RYAN STANDER
  • Home
  • Artist Statement
  • Photography
    • Collodion
    • Florence
    • Bakken
    • Instagram
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • 2015
      • 2014
      • Earlier
    • Elevator Series
    • Topos/Chora
      • About Topos/Chora & PKAP
    • Alternative Processes
      • Cyprus Van Dykes
      • On Wood
      • Cyanotype Landscapes
    • Building Series
  • Printmaking
    • Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid
    • Visual Analogues
    • American Ideals
    • Contested Spaces
    • The Substance of Things Seen
  • Mixed Media
    • Book Arts
      • Photobooks
      • Photograph Album Vols. 1 & 2
      • MFA Books
    • Archival Turn Work
    • Archival Turn Statement
    • Archival Turn Reception
  • Store
  • Bio
  • Contact
  • Links & Resources
  • Teaching
    • Art 280: Photography I
    • Art 380: Advanced Photography
    • Art 491: Art Seminar
    • Art 492: Capstone
    • MSU Art Department Writing Style Guide
  • Student Work
  • Home
  • Artist Statement
  • Photography
    • Collodion
    • Florence
    • Bakken
    • Instagram
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • 2015
      • 2014
      • Earlier
    • Elevator Series
    • Topos/Chora
      • About Topos/Chora & PKAP
    • Alternative Processes
      • Cyprus Van Dykes
      • On Wood
      • Cyanotype Landscapes
    • Building Series
  • Printmaking
    • Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid
    • Visual Analogues
    • American Ideals
    • Contested Spaces
    • The Substance of Things Seen
  • Mixed Media
    • Book Arts
      • Photobooks
      • Photograph Album Vols. 1 & 2
      • MFA Books
    • Archival Turn Work
    • Archival Turn Statement
    • Archival Turn Reception
  • Store
  • Bio
  • Contact
  • Links & Resources
  • Teaching
    • Art 280: Photography I
    • Art 380: Advanced Photography
    • Art 491: Art Seminar
    • Art 492: Capstone
    • MSU Art Department Writing Style Guide
  • Student Work
Search

When You Shouldn't Take Pictures

6/23/2012

0 Comments

 
The other day I bumped into this article and it reminded me of John Mayer's song 3x5.  The life of the photographer is lived behind, rather than in front of the lens.  At times, I lament the lack of photos of myself and the many photos I have of other people.  Mila's words remind me that I do not need to document everything.  And perhaps, those memories will be more precious if I didnt.

When You Shouldn’t Take Pictures
JUN. 5, 2012 By MILA JARONIEC

Last week, I flew to Puerto Rico to visit one of my close friends. I haven’t taken that many pictures because my phone keeps dying while I’m out and I haven’t Instagrammed anything because I’m a cheap bastard who doesn’t want to deal with data roaming charges. The scary thing, however, is the sheer amount of times I have the urge to do just that: to reach for my phone whenever I pass a beautiful building or strip of beach, or snap a photo of some narrow cobble-stoned road, edit it in X-pro II and post it with “San Juan, Thursday 3 p.m.” or some other sh-tty caption. Seriously. The number of times I feel like doing that on a daily basis is staggering.

But, damn. I’m not about to pay some crazy amount of money so my Twitter followers can look at the cobble-stoned road I’m walking on; besides, I’m pretty positive no one cares. But we all post stuff like that — martinis, skylines, cats, collarbones, babies, cropped and edited — all over our chosen social media platforms all the time, or when we’re not being charged extra. Granted, it’s not always a bad thing, of course everyone is free to post whatever they want wherever. But in a way, it seems like it’s become increasingly difficult to do anything without feeling the need to broadcast it. Do we do it because we want people to see it, share in it, get a little jealous maybe, or because we have this vague fear that just plainly being in the moment isn’t enough?

And I’m not just talking about posting pictures anymore, but simply taking them. About documenting. There’s this crazy sense of urgency about being in a new place, this absolute overarching need to see and do as much as possible and document it in every way you can so you don’t lose it somewhere. Souvenirs. Photos. Receipts, bus tickets. We want to hold onto these things so we remember where we were and when, like we’re afraid our memories might suddenly evaporate; like we’re not experiencing it fully if we’re not cataloging. But in a way, putting too much effort into documenting can make us miss out on what’s really there. Like pinning a butterfly to a display board, we’re so wrapped up in trying to keep it that we lose the raw experience of it entirely.

I thought about this when I realized my inability to take tons of pictures or post them was actually a sort of blessing, in that most of the things I experienced and wanted to share weren’t really photo-friendly at all. They were just kind of… lived. Felt. They were things a picture wouldn’t have been able to capture, and even if I had taken a picture, it wouldn’t have been an accurate depiction of the moment because the thousand words a picture is allegedly worth is usually a thousand words of wrong interpretation.

I could have taken a picture of my bent copy of Hopscotch blowing open next to a caipirinha in an outdoor café, water droplets sweating down the glass, and it would have seemed the ultimate in tropical vacation relaxation, although at that moment I was feeling empty and desolate at the flat possibility of never being loved again; that and I had a heat migraine. Pictures of books and alcohol always make it look like you’re having some kind of profound alone time even when you’re crushed on the inside and feeling borderline illiterate.

I could have taken a picture of myself floating around on my back in the ocean but probably not because my phone would have gotten wet; I suppose I could have asked my friend to do it, but either way you can’t photograph the ocean’s reverberating heartbeat, the deep thrum of the dark water or your own brain melted into one even rhythm when you close your eyes, and that’s the exact moment I wanted to remember.

I wanted to take a picture of the art gallery I wandered into, and I did, but not of the owner, who I had a long talk with because I wasn’t late for anything and it was clear she needed the company. Some kid with a giant camera came in mid-conversation and asked if she was an expat, to which she answered “No. Puerto Rico is US territory,” and there was simply no way to capture the way he fumbled with his pamphlet and stumbled over the stair on his way out.

And I guess I could have taken a picture of the faded matte blue-gray sky balancing delicately atop the ocean’s flat blackness like a large-scale Rothko, but a phone camera only does so much and sometimes you just have to put it down and look. 
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Ryan Stander

    Archives

    January 2018
    November 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    May 2016
    July 2015
    June 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    April 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    November 2010
    January 2009
    May 2008
    April 2008
    October 2007
    September 2007
    August 2007

    Categories

    All
    Advertising
    Archaeology
    Architecture
    Archival Turn
    Art
    Artists
    Biblical Study
    Book Arts
    Book Reviews
    Books
    Cabinet Cards
    Canada
    Conferences
    Creativity
    Education
    Ethics
    Evangelicalism
    Exhibitions
    Exhibits
    Favorites
    Film
    Grad School
    History
    Individualism
    Iowa
    Lament
    Landscape
    Liturgy
    Memory
    Mfa
    Mourning Photography
    Music
    New Topographics
    North Dakota
    Oil
    Openings
    P.c.n.j.
    Photographic Objects
    Photography
    Photography History
    Pkap
    Place
    Print Exchanges
    Printmaking
    Psalms
    Randomness
    Student Work
    Sundog Multiples
    Teaching
    Theologizing
    Theology And The Arts
    Tintypes
    Tradition
    Und
    Vernacular Photography
    Visiting Artists
    Vocation

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Artist Statement
  • Photography
    • Collodion
    • Florence
    • Bakken
    • Instagram
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • 2015
      • 2014
      • Earlier
    • Elevator Series
    • Topos/Chora
      • About Topos/Chora & PKAP
    • Alternative Processes
      • Cyprus Van Dykes
      • On Wood
      • Cyanotype Landscapes
    • Building Series
  • Printmaking
    • Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid
    • Visual Analogues
    • American Ideals
    • Contested Spaces
    • The Substance of Things Seen
  • Mixed Media
    • Book Arts
      • Photobooks
      • Photograph Album Vols. 1 & 2
      • MFA Books
    • Archival Turn Work
    • Archival Turn Statement
    • Archival Turn Reception
  • Store
  • Bio
  • Contact
  • Links & Resources
  • Teaching
    • Art 280: Photography I
    • Art 380: Advanced Photography
    • Art 491: Art Seminar
    • Art 492: Capstone
    • MSU Art Department Writing Style Guide
  • Student Work