a personal history
1.3.10On Friday I went to the AGA for a documentary about Yousuf Karsh with Tom and Sarah. Right now the gallery has a fantastic exhibit of selected portraits taken by Karsh. The exhibit is absolutely inspiring, since Karsh was a master of portraiture and so many of the images on display are those of iconic status.
The documentary left me feeling two ways... one, was I felt inspired to shoot more portraits (particularly in bw and perhaps even in film), two, I felt slightly guilty about my rather obsession with documenting the boring and mundane bits of my life photographically. Do all my photos have less value because I take so many of them?
I have about 18 applications on my iPhone that have something to do with photography. Some might say that I have a bit of an addiction. So many were free though, but the ones I use most frequently I paid for (about six of the 18). However, tis a purchase I can justify for of the things I use my iPhone, photography is pretty much the top of the list. But the photos that I do take with the iPhone are the sort of Seinfelds of photography, that is, photos about nothing. But there's something appealing about that. I don't mind the throwaway nature of some of the images. It's sort of like doodles in a margin, sometimes they're worth something and sometimes they're not.
My last obsession was an app called Shake-It-Photo that turned pictures into nice looking Polaroids. I still really like that app, but my more recent love is an app called Hipstamatic, adding a bit of analog flair to the iPhone. I can swap lenses, film, flash. It's all very delightful.
Today I used the Hipstamatic exclusively to document my day.
from the morning sun on the building next door
to the delight of being able to work at home sans socks
to the rumpled sheets of my bed before I made it up
to the mix of blue hues of my blankets once the bed was made
to the boxes of summer clothes that have yet to be unpacked
to the selection of what to wear for the day
Certainly none of these photos will ever be on display in a gallery, but there's something enjoyable about photographing these little elements of my day. It's part of my own personal documentary
1 comments
I love documenting my days too! Usually on Mondays I just slip my camera into my bag as I'm leaving the house and then the whole day feels somehow more special - knowing I have my camera there makes me pay attention to the world more and look for interesting details constantly, even unconsciously. I notice so much more beauty when it's in my bag, even if I don't snap photos of everything. :)
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