“One time I found this old home movie my grandma made of their visit to the Grand Canyon back in the 1950’s. She’s filming the scenery and a couple times you can barely see my dad and uncles run by. We’re watching this in the mid ‘2000’s – 50 years later, near the end of her life. She goes, ‘Why didn’t I point the camera at them? I don’t care about the Grand Canyon.'”
Thought provoking, right?
Anyone paying close attention to travel photography these days may have spotted an overly used trend. It has become wildly popular to only feature “back of the head” shots in which you can’t identify the subject of the photo. The idea is that it makes it easier for others to imagine themselves in the photo, thus making the picture more relatable and selling the location more. Many photographers also think it will lead to more likes on social media.
Who are those mysterious people relaxing and drinking coffee on one of the verandas at Borneo Rainforest Lodge?
On our recent trip to Greece, my bestie noticed a change in our photos and asked, “I’m noticing you guys are taking more photos of your faces? Why the change?” (Thank you Laura for paying THAT close attention and great question!)
Although we are still very guilty of taking the “anonymous photo,” we are now vowing to do a complete 180, literally. It’s time to start capturing our happy, smiling faces in all these beautiful locations. Down the road, we’re going to enjoy seeing ourselves living out these amazing moments, so no more hiding from the camera!
Interestingly enough, our favorite people to follow on social media are the smiling, happy people who show their faces to the camera and those that aren’t worried about creating the perfect photo.
Harry and I were never very social, outgoing people (we still aren’t). In fact, we actually would really prefer keeping off the grid and not putting ourselves out there so much. However, we’ve always been very vocal about the goal of our created content.
Why do we publicize it all? We hope we can inspire others to do the very same because life’s too short!
We know that when the time comes, we can sit back and remember the amazing life story we created with one another. Because in reality, people get old and memories fade.
That’s why we appreciate vlogging so much more than photography. With video, we are able to capture an exact moment in time, along with our voices, our thoughts, our emotions, and our interaction with each other.
We are gifting ourselves now the very best present for later – our documented memories.
