5 ms·

It’s not a totally new phenomenon, but it’s gotten much worse. I remember as a kid, my mom would interrupt $enjoyable_experience to take photos for the family a

It’s not a totally new phenomenon, but it’s gotten much worse. I remember as a kid, my mom would interrupt $enjoyable_experience to take photos for the family album. It would totally take me out of the flow as a kid and is why most of my childhood pictures are of me with an annoyed expression. In fact, most of my adult pictures feature the same expression for the same reason. Only, now my wife is the one with the camera.

mattpallissard 4y ago
Are you me?
andrepd 4y ago
How come taking a picture of you playing in the yard "takes you out of the flow"? x) You make it sound like you were writing assembly or something. For me, I look back on pictures and tapes of my childhood with joy. I'm glad my parents recorded those things and I can go back and see how things were when I was 3 or 8 or 12.
- xenocratus 4y ago
  Not OP, but had/have the same. It's because the person taking the photo doesn't want to capture the moment, they want to capture a choreographed moment, where everyone is looking at the camera, smiling etc. The same photo as everywhere else, but there.
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  Not him but "Wait wait, do that again so I can get a picture of it! No no you were over here, don't face this way do what you were doing before just pretend I'm not here. What's wrong, you were having fun a minute ago stop pouting!" Camera people can be really obnoxious like this, particularly to young children who haven't yet learned the value in humoring their parents. I always hated it when my mother got out the camera. If she had stood back and taken pictures without trying to arrange everything for the 'perfect' pictures it wouldn't have been such an issue. But that's not how it ever went.
  - floren 4y ago
    Now imagine being a child today, when it doesn't cost anything to take a picture and you have your camera on you at all times. Five year olds now have practiced photo poses and a ready-to-go fake smile, because every goddamn day is a photoshoot.
  - tjr 4y ago
    As a hobbyist photographer (well, I do it less, now that everyone is taking pictures all the time), I do not at all like interrupting real life to pose a picture. I don't want that picture. I want a picture of actual real life. If the person I am taking a picture of changes what they're doing because I took a picture, then I have messed up.
    - hef19898 4y ago
      This so much! Sure, a photographer has a presence and influences shots of people. But tgat influence can be minimized. It is hard so, maybe a reason why I largely prefer landscapes and architecture!
  - andrepd 4y ago
    Okay that makes perfect sense. Indeed interrupting whatever it is you wanted to film so you could film it... kinda defeats the purpose.
- filoleg 4y ago
  > How come taking a picture of you playing in the yard "takes you of the flow"? Not the person you are replying to, but I can explain to you how it was "taking me out of the flow", because I have the exact same feeling about my mother and taking pictures. If it was just her taking pictures while I was doing something like playing in the yard, that wouldn't be an issue. However, it was never just this. It was always "ok ok, hold up, one sec, can you stand over there to the right and look in this direction and smile?" whenever we went somewhere that was supposed to be a fun experience that wasn't a part of the daily routine. As a kid, you can imagine, stopping doing whatever fun thing I was doing just to awkwardly pose for a photo I don't care about in the slightest for a few mins, it was an aggravating and not a fun experience. I actually would not have minded at all if she took pictures of me while i was doing something without interrupting and stopping everything. To this day, I find photos of me (and just in general) taken "naturally" (without stopping things and everyone posing intentionally) to be the best all around. They just look real and looking back at them makes the memories of that moment flow back into my head much stronger.
  - gofreddygo 4y ago
    > To this day, I find photos of me (and just in general) taken "naturally" (without stopping things and everyone posing intentionally) to be the best all around 100% my impression too. Photos where no one is trying to "pose" are the best (with few exceptions). But my significant other disagrees. She feels there's no point in such photos. We've agreed to leave it at that. In addition, I gather a sense of happiness curating photos a few months after the photos were taken. I tend to remember the details of such events in a lot more detail and for much longer. I remember much less looking at a picture of us posing for a scenic background as compared to a picture of just her, in the moment, doing something. I now enjoy capturing 20 second videos of me and family doing whatever, with no one trying to pose, they just look at me with the phone and smile or wave. The background conversations captured in them string together a lot of precious moments and memories.
- discreteevent 4y ago
  As a child you don't have to be writing assembly to be immersed in something. If someone takes a picture it suddenly makes you conscious of yourself rather than what you are immersed in.
mixmastamyk 4y ago
Used to annoy me as well. Now those are most of the only photos I have covering several decades.

mattpallissard 4y ago

Are you me?

andrepd 4y ago

How come taking a picture of you playing in the yard "takes you out of the flow"? x) You make it sound like you were writing assembly or something. For me, I look back on pictures and tapes of my childhood with joy. I'm glad my parents recorded those things and I can go back and see how things were when I was 3 or 8 or 12.

xenocratus 4y ago
Not OP, but had/have the same. It's because the person taking the photo doesn't want to capture the moment, they want to capture a choreographed moment, where everyone is looking at the camera, smiling etc. The same photo as everywhere else, but there.
MichaelCollins 4y ago
Not him but "Wait wait, do that again so I can get a picture of it! No no you were over here, don't face this way do what you were doing before just pretend I'm not here. What's wrong, you were having fun a minute ago stop pouting!" Camera people can be really obnoxious like this, particularly to young children who haven't yet learned the value in humoring their parents. I always hated it when my mother got out the camera. If she had stood back and taken pictures without trying to arrange everything for the 'perfect' pictures it wouldn't have been such an issue. But that's not how it ever went.
- floren 4y ago
  Now imagine being a child today, when it doesn't cost anything to take a picture and you have your camera on you at all times. Five year olds now have practiced photo poses and a ready-to-go fake smile, because every goddamn day is a photoshoot.
- tjr 4y ago
  As a hobbyist photographer (well, I do it less, now that everyone is taking pictures all the time), I do not at all like interrupting real life to pose a picture. I don't want that picture. I want a picture of actual real life. If the person I am taking a picture of changes what they're doing because I took a picture, then I have messed up.
  - hef19898 4y ago
    This so much! Sure, a photographer has a presence and influences shots of people. But tgat influence can be minimized. It is hard so, maybe a reason why I largely prefer landscapes and architecture!
- andrepd 4y ago
  Okay that makes perfect sense. Indeed interrupting whatever it is you wanted to film so you could film it... kinda defeats the purpose.
filoleg 4y ago
> How come taking a picture of you playing in the yard "takes you of the flow"? Not the person you are replying to, but I can explain to you how it was "taking me out of the flow", because I have the exact same feeling about my mother and taking pictures. If it was just her taking pictures while I was doing something like playing in the yard, that wouldn't be an issue. However, it was never just this. It was always "ok ok, hold up, one sec, can you stand over there to the right and look in this direction and smile?" whenever we went somewhere that was supposed to be a fun experience that wasn't a part of the daily routine. As a kid, you can imagine, stopping doing whatever fun thing I was doing just to awkwardly pose for a photo I don't care about in the slightest for a few mins, it was an aggravating and not a fun experience. I actually would not have minded at all if she took pictures of me while i was doing something without interrupting and stopping everything. To this day, I find photos of me (and just in general) taken "naturally" (without stopping things and everyone posing intentionally) to be the best all around. They just look real and looking back at them makes the memories of that moment flow back into my head much stronger.
- gofreddygo 4y ago
  > To this day, I find photos of me (and just in general) taken "naturally" (without stopping things and everyone posing intentionally) to be the best all around 100% my impression too. Photos where no one is trying to "pose" are the best (with few exceptions). But my significant other disagrees. She feels there's no point in such photos. We've agreed to leave it at that. In addition, I gather a sense of happiness curating photos a few months after the photos were taken. I tend to remember the details of such events in a lot more detail and for much longer. I remember much less looking at a picture of us posing for a scenic background as compared to a picture of just her, in the moment, doing something. I now enjoy capturing 20 second videos of me and family doing whatever, with no one trying to pose, they just look at me with the phone and smile or wave. The background conversations captured in them string together a lot of precious moments and memories.
discreteevent 4y ago
As a child you don't have to be writing assembly to be immersed in something. If someone takes a picture it suddenly makes you conscious of yourself rather than what you are immersed in.

mixmastamyk 4y ago

Used to annoy me as well. Now those are most of the only photos I have covering several decades.