Coffee Table Declarations
Thursday, June 30, 2005
I've been put in charge of taking pictures of all my coworkers. Actually, I volunteered for the job and the reason we're doing it is to familiarize everyone with everyone else. Long, unnecessary story. The point is, I have become the photographer extraordinaire. And since I don't own a digital camera, this cute little friend who lives in my desk drawer and sucks up batteries like it is starving to death, has become my adopted camera.
I like making appoinments with people for pictures and I like letting them retake as many as they want until they feel like a super model. But then I also enjoy giggling to myself, ever so quietly, when I see how funny some of the pictures look uploaded on my computer. It's interesting to notice how perfectly decent looking people suddenly look uncomfortable and awkward and paste on a fake smile when faced with a camera. Sometimes I'm looking at the little screen and I think the person looks nice. Then I snap the picture and look at it, and it's different somehow. Too bright, too many chins, eyes closed, tooth exposing grimace. I guess when you take all my coworkers together, we're really kind of a funny looking bunch.
Digital cameras are weird because you can look at the picture right after it's taken and then delete it. I have always loved looking at old pictures from the turn of the century when people dressed fancy and stood stiffly, barely smiling. Even if I don't know the subjects, I like to look into their eyes and wonder what they were thinking at that exact moment (probably "hurry up and take this damn picture") and what their lives were like and what their future held. Those kinds of pictures were so amazing because they could freeze an instant in time forever whereas sometimes digital pictures seem a little contrived and less real.
Don't get me wrong, digital cameras are great. I think it's wonderful to be able to see pictures right away and send them by email and post them on websites. Maybe in the far, far distant future the aliens that take over the planet or perhaps the genetically altered clones who can morph into different forms, will look at our digital pictures on our archaic computers and wonder what we were thinking and what our lives were like.
I like making appoinments with people for pictures and I like letting them retake as many as they want until they feel like a super model. But then I also enjoy giggling to myself, ever so quietly, when I see how funny some of the pictures look uploaded on my computer. It's interesting to notice how perfectly decent looking people suddenly look uncomfortable and awkward and paste on a fake smile when faced with a camera. Sometimes I'm looking at the little screen and I think the person looks nice. Then I snap the picture and look at it, and it's different somehow. Too bright, too many chins, eyes closed, tooth exposing grimace. I guess when you take all my coworkers together, we're really kind of a funny looking bunch.
Digital cameras are weird because you can look at the picture right after it's taken and then delete it. I have always loved looking at old pictures from the turn of the century when people dressed fancy and stood stiffly, barely smiling. Even if I don't know the subjects, I like to look into their eyes and wonder what they were thinking at that exact moment (probably "hurry up and take this damn picture") and what their lives were like and what their future held. Those kinds of pictures were so amazing because they could freeze an instant in time forever whereas sometimes digital pictures seem a little contrived and less real.
Don't get me wrong, digital cameras are great. I think it's wonderful to be able to see pictures right away and send them by email and post them on websites. Maybe in the far, far distant future the aliens that take over the planet or perhaps the genetically altered clones who can morph into different forms, will look at our digital pictures on our archaic computers and wonder what we were thinking and what our lives were like.
