What makes it ours?
Is it only the photographs that we've taken that we put into our albums?
I suppose that when photo "sharing" was much less prevalent, this didn't
present a problem (if it does now). If we received a holiday greeting card from
old friends that included a family portrait, we could comfortably place that photo
into an album and still feel that it was ours. But with so many photos switching
hands so easily, the question starts to take on new meaning.
Five months ago I reported that on our last summer
trip I shot more than 600 photos, but I also noted that
When we left their
house, one of our hosts gave us a CD with the photos they took during our visit.
Most of those are also of "our trip" but (and here I speak for myself)
I don't relate to them as mine. I have no clear explanation for this, particularly
considering that an outsider probably wouldn't be able to distinguish between
the photographs I'd taken and those my hosts had shot. Perhaps my difficulty stems
from the fact that for me the taking of a photograph is only one step in a larger
process. Even before I press on the button that actually takes a photograph, I'm
already discussing with myself what that particular shot is going to signify for
me as part of my memories. That being the case, were I to put together an album
of our summer trip, I wouldn't be able to identify with the photos on my host's
CD in the same way that I identify with those photos that I shot.
Go to: The pleasure is in the doing, or
Go to: Basically, it's a feeling, or
Go to: To hold in our hands.