We need more normal photos, less bangers
The biggest trick we fall for in photography is thinking that we need to always take epic photos.
Landscapes, landmarks, and exotic cars, stuff like that! Believing that every time we pick up the camera, the subject must be unique and interesting and something that will wow whoever ends up seeing that photo. Now there is nothing wrong with taking such epic photos, but we can get so caught up in chasing “bangers” that we forget a type of photography that is equally or maybe even more important and that is everyday photography.
Now when I say everyday photography, I mean taking photos of ordinary, everyday objects and moments. It’s photography that isn’t boxed. It can be anything: food, street life, buildings around you, moments with your family or friends, your shoes, the sky, you get the point. Anything that interests you counts.
I recently heard about William Eggleston and looking through his pictures I saw that he shot anything and everything and I found this to be interesting.
Everyday photography doesn’t get much attention because it’s considered boring and I used to think the same way. I mean, I even became interested in photography from seeing epic landscape photos, and one day I still would like to take an epic photo of the northern lights in Norway, but here’s why I think everyday moments are more important.
Let’s say you have the opportunity to visit an exotic location like Japan. Imagine you can visit Japan for 2 weeks every year for the rest of your life and you take epic photos during your trip. You will still have 50 weeks left in the year of your everyday life. Now I’m sure the Japan trip will be memorable, but if you live till you are 100 and you visit Japan, that’s 200 weeks’ worth of photographs assuming you go every year. That’s a lot really, but it’s nothing compared to the 5000 weeks of boring, everyday life.
The point I’m trying to make here is that much of our time is actually spent in mundane places, doing mundane things and these mundane experiences are mostly what we look back on and try to remember so why not take more photographs of these everyday moments and objects?
There is also the problem of social media.
Social media was once used as a means of sharing things, but that’s largely not the case anymore. Social media has become a place where everything you post has to be perfect whether you’re a photographer or not. Most photographers nowadays use it for work and that means they share only their best work…the epic shots! The rest of the random, mundane photos they take don’t end up online and that’s okay really.
The problem is that many new photographers or people who just enjoy taking photos generally can end up feeling like their photos don’t follow a theme and therefore not good enough and that can rob them of the enjoyment that comes with the craft. You’d no longer want to take or share photos that you love because they aren’t perfect or they don’t fit the grid.
But that should not be the case.
Most of us got into photography and stayed because we loved it. We enjoyed making photos of the things that interested us. It was fun and we loved our photos, including the blurry ones.
At the same time, we wanted to improve, because we knew we could. Every bad photo we took showed us that there’s something to work on and I’m sure there’s no photographer who doesn’t have something to learn.
Photography isn’t supposed to be perfect. It should be about taking the best photos we can at the moment and there’s no better way to do this than with everyday photography because it offers the freedom to do the type of photography we enjoy and want to do.
Everyday photography allows us to be creative with whatever tool we have. It doesn’t matter what camera you’re taking photos with. It doesn’t matter what subject you’re taking photos of. It doesn’t matter if you edit your photos or not. What matters is that you take photos of what’s around you and what interests you.
Another thing is everyday photography and life is actually beautiful. Yes, it might not seem like that, but a lot of these moments and objects that are simple and random are always great when you look back on them years later. Those random photos you take today could become cherished memories tomorrow.
Besides, everyone thinks their life and where they live is boring but if you ask someone who lives on the other side of the world, they’ll probably tell you it’s interesting. There is beauty in everyday life and the photos we take today can help us remember these small moments.
So go and make photos of what’s around you and have fun doing it. There’s no point if you don’t.
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