Saturday 17 May 2014

Of lost candid memory and found profile picture.

So, this is another post in which I'm going to brag about what I grew up watching and how things have changed thereafter. No, I'm not that old to speak about the Mughal Empire or how early industrialization affected the growth of lichen and apparently the survival of moths or anything that is driving you crazy. But about something that made me smile.
Remember the good old cameras? The kind of ones through which you click a photograph and get to see it only after getting it printed? When there were no DELETE, EDIT, VIEW AGAIN options? And yet, the photographs would turn out to be just fine. A point of time when photographs were captured for a precious memory or occasion and immediately followed by getting an album neatly done versus the new age digi cams where right after a photograph is clicked, gets uploaded, edited, photoshopped to an unbearable level and posted on random networking sites for the pleasure of strangers( Time for self defense- Peace out, I do upload photos on the web but make sure they are sensible & among the people I know.)


And then starts a whole new era. An era which cultivated and harvested populations of passion for photography. Owning a DSLR implied interest in photography and that meant capturing every possible matter that lies in the visible wavelength of light. Yes, the 'matter' which has mass and occupies space.
In my opinion, passion is often mistook for fancy. People alleged to be in love with photography are more often than not capturing the dress, decorations and materialistic objects than the core motive of capturing the soul, the meaning behind it and all that truly should be captured.


Then after a few days of meandering with the DSLR, enlightenment strikes the minds of the supposedly-in love with-photography-photographers.
Viola! - Log in and create a page.
          -Give it  a name, 'Something something photography'.
          -Message all your contacts, 'Please like my page'.
          -Followed by 50 likes anniversary, 100 likes, 500 likes, so on and so forth.

Enough of it right? Let's get to the good part.
One fine day, far from the madding crowd, you have a huge family get together. There the treasure comes out. The photo albums. All the head banging childishness is crystal clear in front of you. That gives rise to all the memories afresh in the minds of your family members. Embarrassment, happiness and a dash of overwhelming smile that never ceases to stop. Beautiful. Any given day, my vote goes to the photo albums than to the Timeline posts, photos, tags. It's just that the former is real and satisfactory. And the latter always remains a virtual illusion that is always at a risk of a system crash/breakdown.
I have a suggestion. The next time you decide to travel, drop your cameras back home and just go for it. For a memory just between you and the journey and not between you and the web. Try it. It is magical and fulfilling. For once, replace the artificially portrayed 'Say cheese' with a heartwarming smile. LIVE the moments than killing them for a photograph.

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