Always the Photographer, Never the Photographed
Discussion
I've just spent the last hour and a half frantically looking for a half decent picture of me taken in the last eight years and I've only found six, four of which can only be described as 'piss poor'. The fact that I went out with a photographer for five years makes this doubly infuriating. So, what is the point of this rant? The only good shots that I have are taken by a friend that I lived with for five years, from 24-29. She was an avid photographer (had in fact wanted to be a photographer and most of her shots are actually better than mine) and we were always photographing eachother - getting ready to go out on the town, coming home soaked wet through to the skin, larking around in country parks and diners. That is for me a great record of some of the happiest and fun times of my life, bringing back lots of great memories.
I seem to have a yawning gap that begins aged 30, which has made me feel pretty sad. It brings to mind something my father said when I was producing a cabinet filled with family photographs, about five years ago. He said, "I was always the one taking the photographs," lamenting the fact that there is just one shot of him with me as a child and one of him with my sister, both taken on our Christening days. The only photographs that I have of him are the ones that I took. So, make sure that you take nice photographs of your partners, not ones with them with their eyes shut, the backs of their head, looking like they haven't slept for a week, or half in shadow. And if you find that you are always the photographer, make sure that you get copies of the shots that your friends take of you (I do have a friend in London who is a trained photographer, who is always taking snaps of her friends. She always gets duplicate copies made to send to us.)
And if you are feeling uber adventurous and creative, you could do some self portraits. I did this a couple of years ago, so have something to look back on in years to come. So, maybe this should be the theme of one of our future monthly competitions
I seem to have a yawning gap that begins aged 30, which has made me feel pretty sad. It brings to mind something my father said when I was producing a cabinet filled with family photographs, about five years ago. He said, "I was always the one taking the photographs," lamenting the fact that there is just one shot of him with me as a child and one of him with my sister, both taken on our Christening days. The only photographs that I have of him are the ones that I took. So, make sure that you take nice photographs of your partners, not ones with them with their eyes shut, the backs of their head, looking like they haven't slept for a week, or half in shadow. And if you find that you are always the photographer, make sure that you get copies of the shots that your friends take of you (I do have a friend in London who is a trained photographer, who is always taking snaps of her friends. She always gets duplicate copies made to send to us.)
And if you are feeling uber adventurous and creative, you could do some self portraits. I did this a couple of years ago, so have something to look back on in years to come. So, maybe this should be the theme of one of our future monthly competitions
Edited by EmmaP on Monday 16th April 10:55
at Graham! I know what you mean Emma - in my short time as an amateur photographer I have noticed exactly as you say - always the photographer, never the photographed! When somebody wants a nice picture of you it's difficult to find one!
I still use the ones Dan took of me on Eurohoon 04 !!!
Got to agree with you there Emma. I bought my wife a camera and video camera when we had our daughter for that very reason, but she still tends to prefer using the camera on her mobile phone. Thus most of the pictures I have of my daughter and I tend to low quality (although I suppose there is some charm in that - a bit like polaroids?)
Hey Emma
There's a way to fix this ... but it's not easy!
Join the 365Days group on flickr and post a self portrait every day for a year. I had the exact same issue as Emma with hardly any photos of myself but now I'm on day 107 and whilst it's been a bit of a nightmare at times it's a great experience and should be incredible to look back on.
*creepy voice* Join Us ...
www.flickr.com/groups/365days/
dumbfunk
There's a way to fix this ... but it's not easy!
Join the 365Days group on flickr and post a self portrait every day for a year. I had the exact same issue as Emma with hardly any photos of myself but now I'm on day 107 and whilst it's been a bit of a nightmare at times it's a great experience and should be incredible to look back on.
*creepy voice* Join Us ...
www.flickr.com/groups/365days/
dumbfunk
Thanks dumbfunk! Odd that you should suggest this as I was actually thinking of your picture a day when I wrote my post.
It is quite interesting, and at the same time quite scary, seeing how your face changes so very subtly on a daily basis. I have seen some wonderful video clips on UTube of a couple of guys who did this over a period of about ten years. I'll give it some thought
It is quite interesting, and at the same time quite scary, seeing how your face changes so very subtly on a daily basis. I have seen some wonderful video clips on UTube of a couple of guys who did this over a period of about ten years. I'll give it some thought
beaker123 said:
runningawaynutter said:
The rules are simple: I put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can.
I'm quite surprised noone's had it away with his camera, thus getting him further away from it than he might like.
beaker123 said:
Thats a bit daft. Would have been nicer if he'd taken the pictures at different locations around the world, rather than Rotterdam.
EmmaP said:
I've just spent the last hour and a half frantically looking for a half decent picture of me taken in the last eight years and I've only found six, four of which can only be described as 'piss poor'.
I agree with you. Always the photographer.
So what about the self portraits you took?
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