Taking photos harms memory!?
NOTE: I just found this post in my draft box. I have no idea why I never posted it. It’s pretty good and I made myself laugh, so I guess that means I like my own sense of humor… shocking.
Hmmm... I don't know how I feel about this article: Taking photos harms memory
I mean, I know exactly how I feel but it's very much a mixed bag of feelings and me no liking mixed feelings. That would imply that life is complicated and I don't like it one bit. ;)
Okay, so this article says that snapping a photo prevents you from remembering things correctly in the future... my immediate thought was: that's why you hire a photographer... so that you can enjoy your life and let the photographer create photos without you losing the freshness of the memory in your mind. This way, you can be present for your loved ones and you can enjoy the moment and feel all the feelings. So, that's great for me as a photographer.
The bad part: what does it say about me as a dad, a husband and a member of my family. I'm never in the pictures because I'm always the one behind the camera... so, only flawed memories for me then. That's the thanks I get!?? Well, sheesh! Sign me up, my family is really annoying.
Obviously, I'm kidding... after all, that's the reason I first picked up a camera. Pardon my ramblings: I have ADHD and I get distracted easily. What was I talking about again?
Right... photos, memories... got it.
The study seems dubious though. There's a very large difference between snapping photos and creating them. I understand the conclusions that the brain does not make as much of an effort to remember things if it has a physical artifact (i.e. the photo snapped) to trigger the memory later but I take great care in creating photos and I never just brainlessly snap a photo. I would argue that my brain works a lot when I shoot as I am constantly working angles, distances, proportions, lines, focus planes, etc. so Study, I say you are full of S**T.
... Yes, I have a potty mouth... I promise I'm working on it.
Photography is a way for me to establish intimacy and human connections. I crave those moments when I am behind the lens because of my job, my passion… my compulsion(?) is to serve the story. What is it that this flicker in time is saying about the relationship I am observing from behind my camera. The best way I know how to do this is to empathize with, relate to and love the people I photograph. My work is better when I do that. Making pictures is more capturing human connections than the compulsion to snap the photo because that's what I'm here to do.
One last thing: my memory is not all that great, to begin with (ask my wife how annoyed she is with me most of the time), making photos helps jog it, so I’ll keep doing what I do… thank you very much. ;)