eyes

eyes
Originally uploaded by groc.

1000 words?

I have this theory on photos and the photographers that take them. My theory is this: often, the photo can tell more about the photographer, than what it is they are actually capturing.

In other words — and maybe I am reading too much into it — I feel like I start to get a feel for the personality of the photographer. There is something about the way a photo is captured... is it captured gently? glaringly? casually? does it intrude? does it carress the subject? does it coax the subject out? does it treat the subject like a quick glance or with an apology, like the photographer is too embarrassed to take the time to focus in and get the right shot?

With Flickr you can see your photos, your contact's or just anyone who has public photos up. I've seen photos of far-away subjects that seemed lecherous... innocent photos except that the camera seemed so invasive and intrusive. I've seen photos upfront and superclose that seem so gentle... so carressing and sweet. Photos where the simple beauty would have passed unnoticed if it hadn't been for that quick snap of the shutter (so cliche! so true!). Or full stories blossom and run despite the stillness of being a single frame.

- - - -

Seven and a half years ago I joined a list-serv with a hundred or so strangers and very quickly the list had a close cameraderie. So many people back then would ask, "but how do you know those people?" The thinking being... if you can't see them, how do you know that they are being honest with you through email?

My response, while maybe naive, is that it is hard to lie day after day, email after email. Your tone will rat you out. Or your tone will confirm who you say you are.... It is the daily repetition of communication that speaks the truth.

The same could be said about Flickr. I have 93 "contacts" on Flickr now... contacts who upload photos on an almost daily basis. And for the people who have been on my contact list for a long time (and specifically, those I didn't "know" before Flickr), their personalities begin to take shape through their photos -- and I love seeing that. You begin to see who is a joker or teaser, who sees beauty in the every day, who reveres life's most stunning moments, who is self-conscious, who is rushing....

Or maybe I read too much into it. That is true, too.

And speekina nothing really connected to the above, is there nothing worse than finding out that you read someone wrong? That someone you thought was so... fabulous... isn't?

Is it just projection? Is that all life is? Projection?

I dunno. That I will think of for a while.