SMILE.

All for that Kodak moment. Lipstick. Foundation. Concealer. Eyeliner. Lip gloss. Fake eyelashes. Mascara. Turn to your side. One hand on the hip and lean forward. That smile you put on to convey as if you had been caught in that exact moment, mid-conversation. POSE! Is it a moment or a scene?

*click**click**click*

Photo after photo. Same posture. Same open mouthed fake “smile”. I mean when are any of us caught in that moment? Don’t get me wrong I’m not mocking these social climber’s photogenic characteristics…well maybe a little. But I’m definitely not belittling them. Hardly, I’m most likely one of them. I look at a camera and think. Ok I want to capture the moments in my life. But when in life am I consistently flawless and always facing my “good side” to every person in the room? So when I look back in 60years what am I seeing? That it was a good night? Or that Jesus christ I’m vain! Probably the latter.

(me and some of my best girl friends on a night out back in JAN 2011)

Photography has lost its sentimental value. The countless photos from nights out blur into one. If not for my OCD categorical filing of each of them, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell one from the other. Maybe it's only when we have but a few photos regarding one subject, one event that we come to accept how valuable and precious it really is. Perhaps we only truly come to appreciate what is scarce in our plentiful lives. It saddens me that people who have only one photo of a person they have deep affection for kept in their wallet until its worn and tattered only exist in movies. Yes, I am a hopeless romantic, I won’t deny it. But now days most couples have endless snaps shots of each other and of them together that true appreciation of one photo, one moment together vanishes. Relationships aren’t a stroll in the park. It’s a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Ups and downs. Would any of those photos depict the turbulence? Picture perfect couples. We wish we were them. But where are the pictures of the fights? The looks of disdain? Whether we enjoy those moments or not is irrelevant. They are still a part of the relationship. In order to reach the good, we must conquer the bad. We may not have the desire to capture moments in our lives that caused the aching pain of heartbreak, but if photography has the purpose of documenting the events that shape our lives then we must include the moments of misfortune and misery.

Historically speaking, we use photos to record past occurrences. A picture says a thousand words right? But when our photos are looked upon by future generations, are they getting a correct recollection of what had been? Where were the flaws?

The ugly reality that undeniably exists everywhere around us?

(A piece I did for uni back in 2011 that I really enjoyed.)