{"id":27055,"date":"2016-02-04T02:00:02","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T10:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=27055"},"modified":"2016-02-02T10:59:22","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T18:59:22","slug":"social-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/04\/social-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Amsterdam,
Amsterdam, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

I wanted to share some personal thoughts I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been having about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street photography\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in general\u00e2\u20ac\u201d that I feel that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153social photography\u00e2\u20ac\u009d would be a better definition.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We live in a world where we are so disconnected. Most of us live in the suburbs, disconnected from our communities (who knows their neighbors anymore), little time to see our friends (most of our time is with our nuclear families), and little opportunity to interact with social groups outside of work.<\/p>\n

I think this causes a lot of misery, sense of alienation, and causes people to just stay locked up in their homes, miserable, sad, and alone.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be alone<\/h2>\n

\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Solitude is the mother of all anxieties.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d – Publilius Syrus\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One of the trends in America the last 50+ years is the trend of society becoming more and more isolated. Many sociologists have written about this\u00e2\u20ac\u201d especially the landmark essay, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bowling alone\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which shows whereas bowling used to be a social activity, more Americans (back then) started to bowl alone.<\/p>\n

I see this happening with the modern world as well.<\/p>\n

In photography, it used to be more social. You would go to the camera shop, buy film, get your film processed, meet other photographers for a coffee, go see exhibitions together, and share prints in person.<\/p>\n

Nowadays we are (still) social, yet it is all meditated through a 4\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 device. We no longer need to contact and communicate with places that develop our films, because it is all digital. We no longer need to visit the darkroom, because we can upload our photos instantly to Instagram.<\/p>\n

We used to go to movie theaters with our friends, now it is much easier to just stay at home by yourself after work and watch Netflix.<\/p>\n

We used to meet our friends (more often) in-person for a coffee or dinner; now we communicate in short-burst text-messages.<\/p>\n

As humans, we are hard-wired to be social. After all, the only advantages that we have as human beings is that we know how to use tools, and we can organize, collaborate, and socialize with one another.<\/p>\n

I know personally, whenever I am home by myself, I feel miserable. When I play video games at home by myself, I feel isolated and alone. Even when I was a kid, all the video games I played (which I actually enjoyed) were with friends\u00e2\u20ac\u201d either playing together on the SNES at my house, or playing Starcraft or Counterstrike with my friends at \u00e2\u20ac\u0153LAN Parties\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (bringing our heavy-ass desktop computers and CRT monitors to one another\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s houses).<\/p>\n

“Street photography” vs “social photography”<\/h2>\n

The reason why I feel that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street photography\u00e2\u20ac\u009d appeals to so many people is that it helps us get out of our apartments, into public places, and the chance to socialize, interact, and communicate with the outside world.<\/p>\n

For this reason, I feel that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153social photography\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is probably a more precise definition of what most \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street photographers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are trying to do.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Street photography\u00e2\u20ac\u009d helps us be more social. After all, most \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street photographers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are interested in photographing fellow-human beings; whether candidly or with permission.<\/p>\n

A landscape photographer can go just fine photographing nature, trees, and flowers. Yet you can do landscape photography without any need of a partner. You can do it alone.<\/p>\n

Even when I think of my personal \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street photography\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I like to call up friends and ask them if they just want to go on a walk and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153shoot.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 90% of the time we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not even taking photos, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just walking, chatting, and enjoying one another\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s company. Even when I teach workshops, I feel the biggest benefit is the chance to meet other passionate people, to socialize, to share one another\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s passion for photography, and to make new connections. Photography is less important.<\/p>\n

Engage with others<\/h2>\n

Whether you find yourself a more extroverted or introverted person; try to figure out ways how you can make your photography more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153social.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Perhaps you shoot by yourself\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but maybe meet friends later and print our your works and ask to get honest feedback\/critique on it.<\/p>\n

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re extroverted, use your charm to talk more with strangers and socialize with them that way.<\/p>\n

While I am skeptical of a lot of technology being alienating\u00e2\u20ac\u201d there are tons of fantastic Instagram and Flickr communities which allow the formation of online communities. I feel an online community is far better than no community\u00e2\u20ac\u201d although I do prefer in-person communication. Yet for many of us who are alienated by our jobs (sticking in a cubicle with artificial lights, stuck in a basement), staying connected with other people via the internet is a lifeline.<\/p>\n

I know that personally a lot of my inspiration and motivation in my photography was from help I got from strangers on the internet, and other photographers I met in-person. I would get honest feedback, critique, and the opportunity to also help other photographers.<\/p>\n

Even in my journey in photography, I am so grateful for all the photographers who I met, interviewed, shared nice coffees with, and shared passions with. From other photographers, I learned how<\/em> to shoot photography (technical settings, framing, etc), as well as the photographers to study (which ended up turning into the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Learn From the Masters\u00e2\u20ac\u009d series).<\/p>\n

I think about all my travels around the world, and I had far more<\/em> fun socializing with the people I met along the way (not the photography side). If anything, I discovered my passion for traveling wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about making \u00e2\u20ac\u0153exotic photos\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it was about opening my mind to new cultures, new experiences, and new ways of life. And the people I have met along my life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey have always been the most valuable to me.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spend so much time alone<\/h2>\n

I do appreciate having time alone; but eventually as humans we need social contact.<\/p>\n

Think of ways you can inject ways to be more social in life. Perhaps attend local \u00e2\u20ac\u0153meet-ups\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (meetup.com<\/a>), attend local photography or art exhibitions or shows or gallery openings, attend photography classes or workshops, hit up the local camera shop and chat with the people who work there, talk more with strangers you photograph, or use the Internet to give honest feedback and critique on the work of others.<\/p>\n

If I think about it honestly\u00e2\u20ac\u201d if I were the last human being on the world, I definitely would not<\/em> make photos. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know if I would have a will to keep living without having another human being to share the joy of life with.<\/p>\n

Nothing good in life is worth having or experiencing without someone to share it with.<\/p>\n

Stay inspired, stay strong, and shoot as if today were your last
\nEric<\/p>\n

Tuesday, Feb 2, 2016, 10:55am<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear friend, I wanted to share some personal thoughts I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been having about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street photography\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in general\u00e2\u20ac\u201d that I feel that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153social photography\u00e2\u20ac\u009d would be a better definition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/amsterdam_21966231822_o.jpg?fit=3936%2C2608&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}