Rujida, a friend of mine, said she was thinking about why she likes to take pictures. She asked me why I like taking pictures. Thinking about her question, I saw this photo by Eastlyn Bright.
I think my answer to her question is a bit difficult to describe...because there is a kind of mystery to it. Just like a photograph itself, describing something doesn't capture the whole of it. For me, a photograph captures something. It slows something down about life. It creates a moment, lifting it out of all the surrounding moments that often just end up running together. A photo is always, in fact, something that has already happened. And, perhaps because of that, it teases us with the possibility that the captured thing might happen again...even though it, in an of itself, is over. A photograph is an attempt to preserve something, a memory.
A photo, like the one above, can create a longing for its content, or something like it, to happen again. A photo can create hope (future), in an ironic way, from a memory (past).
I am drawn to beauty. I have encountered a quality of beauty that almost always makes me want to share it with someone else. Taking photos is a way I enjoy of doing this.
