| Friday, February 04, 2005 |
| Take A Picture, It'll Last Longer |
Yesterday we purchased a Canon Powershot A95 5-Megapixel Digital Camera. Now first, I need to point out that this is a purchase we've been waiting a long time to make - it all has to do with our Israel trip that's coming up in three weeks- so it's not like I'm one of those guys always buying next techie-toys [although I could be]. That being said, I did a lot of research about it and figured out that this camera was the most bang for our buck. Messing around with it has been fun; there's even a setting where you can take 360 degree panoramic views of places and software that will join it seamlessly. It's pretty crazy.
In a related note few weeks ago I read an article [I'd post a link to it, but I can't find it] claiming that the digital camera is altering the way we view our society. This is the thought process: remember when you used to go to Walgreens, pick up your developed photos and discover two or three bad pictures? There'd be anything from red or closed eyes, to bad angles that made you look 50 pounds heavier, to your index finger covering half the photo. You'd want to throw the bad photo away, but you paid so much to get it developed that you kept it anyway. Years later you were looking in your photo album, came across the picture and said to yourself, "Well that one really sucked." And all those around you chimed in agreement.
With the advent of the digital camera we're able to instantly delete photos that we don't like. Camera purists and even sociologists are beginning to worry that we're wiping away the imperfections from our society, creating an unrealistic view of who we are as people. You have to admit that this true. We already live in an airbrushed world where the most beautiful people we know, the ones paraded before us in movies, on television, and in magazines, are touched up to make themselves look even better. This has caused young people to become anorexic and bulimic and has propelled the plastic surgery industry into the stratosphere. So now we digital camera owners do the same thing that the entertainment industry does. Not wanting anyone to see us at our worst, we keep only the pictures we want to be seen. Fast forward to our children and our children's children who won't likely see our blemishes and mishaps. Are we setting future generations up to fail when compared to impossible expectations?
So I'm trying not to delete all my bad pictures. It's a little difficult, but I'll give it a go. I want to ensure that future generations know what a screw-up I really am. So far, I'm accomplishing my goal and I'll have the pictures to prove it.
|
yet another musing of steve-o @ 8:41:00 AM  |
|
-->
|
|
|
|
