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Comment by anon-3988 | Hacker News Reader

The prime example for me of this phenomena is selfies. What is the point of taking pictures, really? To capture the moment? Or to post to social media? If I am going to be honest, most pictures today are taken so that they are able to be broadcasted it to everyone.

I believe I have superior taste in this where I don't take selfies but instead take pictures of people and environment just doing stuff. The moment someone says "smile for the camera!", thats an inferior, fake situation that does not bring me any joy. I don't like looking at those pictures because I know everyone is faking it. I know because the moment the picture was taken, they would immediately sighed and drop the smile.

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Carrying a camera around at all times killed the value of photographs to large extent. I know people who come home from a one week vacation with 100's of pictures, that are never looked at again, and which spoiled all the moments where one could really enjoy the scene. Music concerts where nearly all the crowd film the concert and mostly miss the experience by doing so, is another example.

I don’t think it’s having a camera that killed it, it’s that most people stopped printing their photos. Most people have thousands of poorly sorted and duplicate photos on their phone which aren’t very enjoyable to scroll through.

I went and sorted through all my photos and printed out the best ones to pin up on a board. I love looking at them and everyone who comes over finds it interesting to look through the photos on the wall too.

Yes, you explained better. It is having the camera always with you and the abundance of photos that are the result, which for most people including me are too much and too boring to sort out. I find myself in the opposite situation now, when at a happening or event I take no photos at all, because I came to hate taking them. Feel it is not worth spoiling the moment. But that means not recording the valuable moments for later, so I may come to regret that at old age.

I started taking an old digicam with me to events. I don’t ask people for a photo for them to pose, I just capture as it was before they notice.

The old flash photography combined with candid authentic expressions is really refreshing to see again. The phone camera and look is just so overdone that it’s boring. Taking photos with an old tech and different focal length feels fresh and fun. I don’t post these on social media, I just print them and share the pics directly with the person, everyone has loved it.

There’s also a delayed gratification aspect. I can’t just post these from my phone as soon as I take them. I have to go home, take the sd card out, and copy them over before I can share them. I think there’s something to be said for just slowing down and enjoying the limitations.

I like that, and I heard it is becoming a bit of a trend where people also leave their phone at home, and more deliberately choose the precious moments to capture. Nice.

I took essentially no photos in my twenties (long before phone cameras) for exactly this reason - and, in the short term, absolutely did remember events better than the folks who were constantly looking for their next digicam shot. I'm now living the long-term of that, though, and regret that I have nothing "tangible" to show my wife and kid, or even to re-spark my own memory, about all the amazing things I did back then.

I'm a bit more intentional now: I don't pull out my (phone) camera all that often, but I try to look for something that will represent - not record (that's impossible), but spark a memory of - the moment later. By the way, people are more important for this than things, or "the thing" itself. I actually think the selfie brigade are on the right track, for all that they may become annoying by overdoing it.

>> I don't like looking at those pictures because I know everyone is faking it.

Maybe you're not far enough removed from them yet. Looking back on a group photo years later, especially if some of those people have died, is a very pleasant experience. The point isn't "look at us all smiling" when you know that it was posed, the point is "remember all of those people there that day, we were together, we did x etc". It reminds you of the entire event, not the specific moment of taking the photo.

Edit: Sit with a parent or grandparent and go through their photo albums. Almost all the photos are posed and you'll see how great that can be.

I'd say there's at least a third reason: intellectual (or rather technical) curiosity of photography itself. Often, when I take a picture, it is just to see how a particular shot turns out, much less so for any sentimental value to myself or anybody consuming those images later on.

I'd also say that's most likely a healthy kind of dopamine usage, as it's leading one into a life of exploration, learning and wonder.

But you're right, taking a true in-the-moment picture is a skill.

I used to think this, and I only took photos of places (without me in them). Then I realised that the value of the photo is to remind me of what I was doing, how I was feeling, etc, not just that I was in the place. I agree that faking smiles makes the photo worth less, but just don't fake anything.

Agreed, I used to think this but now enjoy taking quick selfies, and my phone will dig them up and remind me of fond memories later on.

GP conflates selfies with posed photos.

I am not against taking selfies in the literal sense. Go ahead and take a snap of you and your surrounding. It becomes sad and depressing when someone needs to do multiple takes and even worse, touch up the image.

I always remember a posed photo that one of my old bosses had on her desk. It was of her and her daughter; she was giving a big attractive (to my eyes faked for the camera) smile, and her daughter looked miserable.

I appreciated the unintentional honesty: time and time again you see kids being told to smile for a camera, when they’re young enough that society hasn’t yet ingrained in the social necessity of doing so.

> What is the point of taking pictures, really?

Ephemeral communication?

It's fun; Gets a group together; They touch for a moment; Look at it together; "Oh my good I look so fat"; ...

I posted something very similar on here last year after a visit to Ibiza - as we sat eating lunch in the castle in Ibiza old town, a group of young women spent the entire time we were there, maybe an hour and a half, in turn posing for photos next to a plant. Each time one went in for the pose, they'd pass their phone to a friend to take the pictures. It went on and on. The two things that really struck me about this were: 1. all the photos seemed to be taken with the subject's phone, so nobody had any photos of the people they were actually there with, and 2. If they'd turned around, there was an absolutely stunning view right behind them.

I felt old.

These days, go anywhere in the world with a pseudo famous landmark and watch the same thing. I've been travelling long enough to remember people being present and taking in the experience. Now it's literal queues for the perfect spot to take 100 near identical photos of themselves, and choose a few later for social media.

I've never understood the need to take a picture of yourself. I know what I look like--I don't need a photo to remind me. The rare times I ever even take a picture of something, it's because that thing is interesting or unique, and I'd like to look at it carefully later.

I don't use social media (aside from HN). I take selfies to remember a moment. Not to capture it, my memory is good enough for me for that.

I feel similarly. Take good photos of your friends doing cool things. Absolutely do not stop everyone for a group picture. Forget things. It’s okay to forget the minutia of life.

I'd say selfies just aren't for you, and that's fine. For many others it's not, and friends at a distance may just like seeing their friends' faces instead of just the subject. But I don't understand it myself because I'm outside of those circles. (and less face oriented but that's probably the autism/introversion lmao)

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