The Importance Of A Photograph....

Today I went to a funeral of a young man aged 22, who I have known most of my life. But the only photographs I could find of him were those with a hand across the face, to shield himself from that split second where the camera takes a piece of your history. In the past I wouldn’t have thought much of this and just moved onto the next person to sneakily take their picture, but when a horrible situation like this comes about and you have nothing to show of this persons life but the memories in your mind (which with age we often loose) it starts to hit you just how important a photograph can be.
Another situation was just the other week I went to a photography exhibition on my own. This is unusual for me as I don’t usually like being alone. However I believe I benefited from this experience as I was given the chance to truly soak in the photographs and almost feel a connection with the subjects, almost as if I was standing right next to the photographer when the moment was captured. If it wasn’t for that photograph I would have never been exposed to that moment of someone else’s history and in a way that is extremely concerning.If it wasn’t for photographs or video footage we would never have understood the power of the 9/11 bombings







If it wasn’t for photographs we could be standing next to osama bin laden without even knowing


If it wasn’t for photographs I still wouldn’t have seen what my two cousin in England look like.

If it wasn’t for photographs I wouldn’t be able to see just how similar I looked to my great grandma.These things may not be very important to people but for someone like myself I believe they make us who we are. They help our brains to form ideas and thoughts and provoke emotion within.

A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words....I don’t remember exactly when or where I first heard this saying but it seams to play an important role in my mind, like a reminder to my brain that every time I’m in a happy, sad, unusual, new, scary, beautiful situation…I feel the need to record it. Whether that be with my camera phone, a disposable camera or my SLR digital camera. People often say to me WHY Emily, WHAT are you taking a photo of that for, When do you think you will ever look at that again? I can either choose to ignore these questions or just say to them one day you will thank me.

TO BE CONTINUED...

So from the comments Casey made I was excited to discuss this topic more. {NOT PRINTING OUT OUR PHOTOS} About a year ago I could easily say I was guilty of this crime…If my images were not being used for an assignment or a framed gift to a friend or family member, they pretty much remained hidden in the black cold box of wires. But I became sick of this and wanted to be able to see my favourite pictures on a daily basis. And now as you can see my bedroom is covered in them!





So I have a challenge for you all…if you are a member of this group add to this post with 2 pictures from your life that defines you. And for anyone else passing by this blog please feel free to post a comment with one of your photos (and explain the meaning behind it). They could be of your first birthday, your graduation or perhaps a photograph of you and your friends all dressed up ready to go to your first school dance…I know I have one of them lying around….but that’s another problem, as soon as I started taking my own pictures and didn’t have my Mum placing them in nice albums and adding the little side description etc they started becoming lost in all my junk and you begin to forget – when was this taken, what was it for, who are the other people in the shot. SO girls and boys we need to get our act together! Whether that be putting your photographs in photo albums, making scrap books, creating beautiful coffee table books or even doing what I do and create wall paper out of your photographs…the options are endless!
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED:

Casey here, just adding a little to this post with my two images.
Both my images define me in that they are the reasons I started shooting in the first place. Of course one of the pictures had to be of Oliver, this one was taken when he was just a fresh little newborn at one week old. Its so lovely to look back at how far he was come since this precious beginning.

It is totally cliche but the honest truth - he is my inspiration and motivation to grow and learn and become the best version of myself, both for his and our happiness. I honestly never knew I was capable of loving someone or something as much as I love Oliver.

ps. the teddy is one of those DIY bears. Made with love, literally.. he has a little heart and note from me stuffed inside. Affectianately named 'Peanut' which is what we would call Oliver in utero.

Now this next picture isnt quite the tug on the heart strings, but it is one of my very first commerical images. Shot in all the wrong ways, to be fair I didnt know any better at the time. Auto everything in the settings, small Jpeg, NO color balance, NO photoshop. Just point and shoot and hope for best. Although I have to say, I dont think I did too badly for a complete amateur, I even had a mini cardboard syc settup next to the window so I could get a nice clean backdrop.

I initially purchased an SLR after a run in or two with some very expensive photographers who were commissioned to shoot for my then business, Ten Sticky Fingers. An online boutique of all things deligtful and handmade, I decided to stick to the old adage, if you want it done right- do it yourself. A shortcourse in SLR basics to get the grasp of things later, I was hooked and havent looked back since.

Funny isnt, how life twists and bends in mysterious ways.

xx

EMILY:

I didn't even have to think about which photos I would choose for this challenge...These were the first "pro looking" photographs I took in high school with my families (chuncky) compact camera. After this photoshoot I fell in love with photography and every object or friend passing by was captured with my shitty camera!

Many of the photographs that I take I will love at the time but a month later they often make me cringe, but for some reason I still love these photos as much as the day I took them. They may lack “technique” but I feel that the photos shows that I had some sort of talent with composition, lighting, texture etc. before I actually learnt about these things…which in a way gives me hope that I may have some sort of smidgin of talent inside me haha

Alex:
Well the immediate thing i began to think about was riding, as i not only love to ride bikes, but it is the thing that intrigued me about photography in the 1st place.
I then began to think about what defines me as a person and describes my personality, after a look through my photo's, 1 in particular caught my eye...This image in particular caught my eye, as since I had captured the image the of the wild, elusive proboscis monkey whilst i was in Malaysia. I chose this to represent this image to define myself as many have described me as cheeky, inquisitive, bound full of energy, and just a monkey in general =D