One of my observations during BlogWalk yesterday, is how the advent of digital cameras has brought new behaviour to become acceptable.
As a child I remember that taking pictures sort of always involved posing. ‘Hold on, let me adjust the camera, ok now smile’, and click. Pictures were made by artificially ‘freezing the frame’. Digital cameras have changed that.
It’s becoming perfectly acceptable to take pictures in almost any given situation, like meetings, workshops, etc.
Nobody reacts to the growing presence of cameras anymore. The tables yesterday were littered with the devices. No posing anymore, we just carry on regardless. Also the photographer is no longer an observer, shooting pictures for posterity, he participates, snaps a shot in mid sentence, and continues the conversation as if it did not take place.
It’s becoming perfectly acceptable to take a picture with somebody else’s camera. You’re not running up costs for the owner anymore. To my pleasant surprise I found that someone had taken the liberty to take pictures of me with my camera. It used to be that the only one not in the pictures of holidays and trips was the one who handled the camera, leading to captions like ‘Behind the camera was ….’, and ‘The shadow on the ground is mine’.