Experiments in real life
R. observed: You live only half in the real world when you are here. You live through the camera instead of living in the present.
R. is the type of friend whose thoughts generate thought; I trust his creative instinct and his critical eye. His intelligence is well respected. He shuns time online as lifestyle choice rather than luddism.
The comment crystallised into an experiment. I decided to restrict my camera use for six months to see what would happen. To see if I would actually live a little more in the present and to see what it would do to the memory process.
From January to June I took minimal photos. Where I did, these were usually iPhone shots or a few on my small camera. I made conversation, I waited through pauses while others set up their shots and ignored the twitch towards camera case.
The outcome? A six month gap in my timeline.
There’s no artifact to mark Peter and Katherine’s visit, the Pixies concert or remember the particular moments in time: that light or the attempt at visual representation of an idea. I remember these things but have no sense of context and order (was the Pixies concert before or after P&K were here? when did summer end?). Other people’s photos are like crime scene recreations without the personal layer, the EXIF data of my memory.
I’ll go back to chasing and then tagging the butterflies on pins. R. may disagree, but I’ll know when I see him next. There will be another photo of him & me.
4 notesShow
-
matthewb liked this
-
samwieck liked this
-
darren131 reblogged this from mandamonium
-
darren131 liked this
-
mandamonium posted this
