First of all, a disclaimer. I am not
doing this for you, dear reader, I am doing this for me. I know, it's
selfish, but I don't think it is wrong to be true to your nature. I
think that that shirt I see around sometimes that says: "More
people have read this shirt than your blog." will be very true in
this case. So, for me, it will be like keeping a journal, only it
will be more secure. A journal attracts attention, just one more dolt
keeping a blog does not. Also, since I am the only person who will
probably end up reading this, the writing will be more shoddy than it
would be if I were writing this for other people to read. That is all
for the disclaimer. On to today's topic:
Photography and Philosophy:
Photosophy
Have you ever noticed that some people just take a photo and move on
without looking at it? Or that some people take lots of photos and
only show others the good ones? Or that some people take one photo
and, whether or not it is a good one, are satisfied with it? These
three different types of photographers are the topic of today. Let
us examine a situation and see how each of the types reacts to it,
and what it tells us about them. We will look at them in the order
that I mentioned them.
The Hedonist
Photographer
The Hedonist Photographer is the guy who, when confronted with an
absolutely stunning photo opportunity while driving to a friend's
party (let us say that he sees a beautiful sunset) gets out of his
car immediately with his camera, snaps a photo that he doesn't even
look at, gets back in his car, and continues driving to the party. He
doesn't really seem to care about the actual photo, all he wants is
to get to the party. The Hedonist Photographer does not care about
the photo in and of itself, all he cares about is the possible
pleasure that it might give him to show it off to others if it is
good. Thus he doesn't bother to look at the photo, because it is not
as important to him as the time that he might save by not looking.
Because he doesn't look, he thinks, he will get to the party and
pleasure sooner, and getting there sooner matters more to him than
any pleasure he might obtain by making sure he has a beautiful
photograph to show off to people. Hedonist Photographers are usually
self-centered, and they live only for pleasure. To The Hedonist
Photographer, every action is measured as to whether it is worthwhile
by how much pleasure it might bring his way.
The Epicurean
Photographer
The Epicurean Photographer is the person who, when he sees a stellar
opportunity to photograph something takes a hundred or so photos and
then goes through them deleting all of the ones that he thinks aren't
good enough. He does this so as to, when he shows the photos to
everyone else at the party, avoid any embarrassment and pain he might
feel if one of them is not liked or is not good. As such, he is often
revered by all who know him as an excellent photographer. The
Epicurean Photographer seeks to eliminate all pain from his life,
while maximizing all his pleasure. He maximizes his pleasure by
taking hundreds of photos to make sure that there will be at least
one good one. He minimizes his pain by getting rid of all of the ones
he deems as unworthy. This, of course, assumes that he will be
showing them to someone, which he usually does. He is an extrovert,
usually, and as such must always show off his photos to anyone who is
willing to sit and hear him talk through them. To the Epicurean
Photographer, every action is measured as to how much pain it might
eliminate compared to how much pleasure it will bring to him. So,
despite the fact that it is not fun to go through and delete all the
bad photos it will get rid of a lot of pain when he shows them to
others, so it is worthwhile. Likewise, he took the hundreds of photos
in the first place, despite the pain of not getting to the party as
soon as he wishes, because this assures that he will have at least
one photo to show off.
The Stoic
Photographer
The Stoic Photographer is the person who simply takes one picture of
the sunset, looks at it, and is satisfied, whether it is worth
showing off or not. He doesn't really care whether it is worth
showing off or not because he does not intend on showing it off in
the first place. He takes the photo merely for his own private,
personal pleasure. And he takes pleasure in it even if it is bad
because he accepts that it is bad, accepts the fact that he did not
take a good photo, and in accepting it, he makes it good, in his own
eyes. And whether it is good or not in his own eyes is all that
matters to him, because he is the only person whom he ever intends on
letting see it. The Stoic Photographer is generally unselfconscious,
because he only really cares what he thinks about himself, not what
everyone else does. As such, it doesn't bother him if someone might
dislike the fact that his hair is messy or he is dressed
inappropriately for whatever occasion he is at. Unlike The Hedonist
Photographer or The Epicurean Photographer, he maximizes his pleasure
by accepting anything that might be unpleasing to him, and through
accepting it, he makes it pleasing. The minimization of pain that
comes because of this is not intentional, it is merely a happy
by-product of his acceptance. Nothing is ever really painful for the
true Stoic Photographer.
