Do your photos get better with time?

Trying to be Creative #38

Hey you,

Photography is a way to prove that life was and that we lived it

I saw this comment on a Reddit post and it made me think about the relationship that photos have with time.

I have a bunch of photos (and I’d like to think we all do) that don’t necessarily look good now. They’re not ‘artistic’ or interesting, but in 10, 15, 25… 50 years, they would provide an insight into how life is now.

Of course, you can have photos that are interesting now and still retain that interest after a long time, but time adds a level of interest to most photos, especially those that may appear boring now.

How to preserve these photos is probably something we should discuss another day, but I believe there could be a shift in our approach to taking photos if we all think about how they’ll be viewed after a long time.

Would we take more photos that will have more meaning after time passes? Would it make us worry less (more like critique our photos less) if we take a photo that isn’t great now, but could describe our present environment in 50 years? Of course, none of this should stop us from having fun now with whatever we decide to photograph, but it could be something to keep in mind.

What do you think about this time-photos relationship?

I’d love to hear from you about this and since February is over, for the monthly roundup, I tried looking at my photos in 2 ways:

1. the ones that look cool now

2. the ones that may look cool after 40 years

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Photo Stories/February Roundup

all photos by author.

These first 2 photos fall under the ‘look cool’ category. I don’t think they’ll look better in 40 years because there’s nothing to it. Just photos of ceiling lights I thought were nice.

This is another one in the same category. I liked the way the lines cut across and kind of frame the cell tower, but without any context of the surroundings, it’s just a ‘cool’ photo.

The next photo is from a different angle and I think this one will have more relevance in 40 years. For one thing, houses may be built differently then. If the only thing that still remains is the cell tower, then this is a good photo from the past. Or maybe the building beside the tower gets really old and starts showing its age, then this photo will show what it once looked like. There’s a lot of uncertainty, but remember we’re talking about the future.

In other news, it rained for the first time this year and I think these photos also fall under the ‘may look cool after 40 years’ category. It will show the type of roofing common in 2024 and that some houses use solar energy. To be honest, though, I was just happy to take photos of the rain.

First rain of 2024.

This one probably doesn’t fall under any category. It’s just the view from my bed, so nothing cool about it. It also doesn’t contain enough information for it to be relevant in 40 years (at least I don’t think it does), but it’s making me think about how wide-storytelling photos will do better than single-subject photos over time. I’m sure there’ll be outliers of course, but like I mentioned earlier, it’s just something to think about.

tell someone about this…

That’s it for February. Overall, it was a lazy month for photography, but it couldn’t be helped.

Let me know what you think. Am I overthinking all this?

Thanks for reading this far.

Keep making photos and experimenting. Photography is more fun that way.

See you March 15.

x

ash.

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