Details

I was talking to a friend today about photography and she mentioned that she hates staged and 'portrait' types of photos, but that she loves looking at pictures of people, like candid or journalistic style. I agreed with her wholeheartedly, but when I stopped and thought about it for a moment, I wasn't really sure why.

When I look back at portrait shots of myself, like the forced family photos and whatnot, I might remember where I was or if it was a significant holiday, but that's about it. I don't really care. But when I look back at photos of myself laughing, or playing around, or as a kid sitting at a table with crayons, tongue clenched out the side of my mouth, determined to teach myself to color inside the lines NO-MATTER-HOW-LONG-I-SAT-THERE, I remember how I felt at those moments. That happy joking wells up again, or the reminder of the joy of accomplishing something I worked really hard for gives me a momentary little burst of pride. That type of thing.

So I think that is why I agree with her statement. That little emotional connection is everything to me. I don't care to see a 'smile at the camera' face that has no real emotion. I want to see someone laughing or crying or having some real emotion that I can recognize or connect to. Is that strange?

Well, regardless, the other thing I love is details. I usually enjoy pictures because of the feeling they convey more than the specific object I'm looking at. Detail-shots are the epitome of this. You don't need to see an entire face to know it's beautiful if the freckles convey the feeling of beauty on their own. You don't have to have an overview of the entire room for the rhinestones on the pillow and lights int he background to make it feel like you were in a comfortable, yet glamorous, space. You get the picture.

Haha, see what I did there?

Ahem...