Why Everyone Should Be A Photographer
In the universal scheme of things, human existence is a mere blip. A tiny scatter of activity amongst an infinite span of time and space. Compare that with the life span of a Daddy Long Legs. In the time it takes most of us to complete a sudoku they have learned to fly, lined up a lover and left their legacy. A little fast and loose for some tastes perhaps, but when every day is a decade they can be forgiven for omitting a few romantic dinners.
In a way, we are a lot like our cumbersome cohabitants. We flit around clumsily from place to place as if we won’t make the weekend. Come Saturday however, when our winged cousins are meeting their maker, destiny fulfilled, we are still making plans.
It’s totally understandable of course. For those little guys, two weeks is all they get, two weeks to see it all, two weeks to make it count. If we play our cards right we can snag a cool century of this living stuff so what’s a fortnight here and there?
The problem is a fortnight can just as easily be a year, a decade. Depending on our perspective we can blink away half our lives as if it were nothing or have one moment define it all.
The proper solution for this would be to inhabit of our gangly earth fellows for a while but failing that we can always rely on photography to steer our ship back on course.
The art of photography, above all the F stops, filters and flashes is about perspective. It’s the ability to look at the same thing as everyone else but see something completely different. To see rain and think camera! Not umbrella. To see a second in a thousand parts and value each fraction because it only takes one to capture something incredible.
Photography teaches us that a different perspective, rather than divide us and build barriers is an opportunity to develop; To reach beyond our limitations and expand our horizons. It shows us the real power in life comes from timing not money and that even in a thousand failures, all that counts is the one success.
We have no control over what time we have. Despite our advances we, like our dear friend the Daddy Long Legs are at the whim of the world.
What photography can show us is that life, however long is a collection of moments and it’s simply a matter of perspective as to what it’s worth. Whether they are spread over a day or a decade is irrelevant. The real power is not to count each passing moment, but to make each passing moment count.
Thanks for reading. My name is Kevin Lake. I am a photographer and writer, trying to combine both wherever possible.
If you like please recommend and share — you can also check my work out here.
You might also like Why Everyone Should Be a Portrait Photographer
