Why do we take the same photos?

Guided by the course notes, I have been looking at some of the photographs collected by and an interview with Joachim Schmid.

Starting in flea markets, Schmid collected hundreds of other people’s photographs and began to curate them into themes. During this process, he realised that there is much repetition in what people photograph. Schmid has now moved to mainly browsing the internet via Flickr and such sites to enhance his collection but the sentiment remains; we all seem to take the same photographs.

Many of this repetition is brought about by occasion: bride and groom, men holding prize fish, gatherings of students, soldiers, old friends. The list is endless, so large that Schmid has divided his images into ninety six books, each titled by group. Steeped in today’s culture is the selfie; mainly taken on mobile phones, such images not only show where the owner has been but their inclusion proves that they were there, usually having an amazing time.  

Schmid notes that we often photograph the good things in life, the brighter side of raising children, happy times with friends and partners. The fact is people prefer to publish a rose tinted version their world. A quick browse on Facebook shows images and statuses which could make us think everyone has a life far more exciting than our own. There’s the odd sympathy seeking ‘I’m so sad’ status but on the whole we aim to show our best side.

One place I have noticed people revelling in the murkier side of life is the traveller photos on sites such as Tripadviser. Reviews of any kind rarely give an average rating and as with the written, these photographs show either the best or the very worst of what their holiday accommodation had to offer. The few of these I have witnessed already show much repetition: mouldy shower trays, bare electric wires and cracked plug sockets seem to be the mainstay of the negative photographic review.

Photography at its most distressing is the reserve of the professional world; granted professionals are most often employed to shoot happy occasions, however at the other end of the scale, war photographers shoot scenes of terrible pain and devastation. This genre of photography as a hobbyist or passerby would be considered incredibly bad form. I will be delving further into this genre in my next exercise.

This interview has made me think about my own photography, both personal and professional. As a result of my learning, I have noticed a change, not only in the quality of my holiday photos but in what I choose to shoot. Have I become more original or have I just entered a new group taking typical images for an educated photographer on holiday? I suppose that’s worth a bit of research.

I remember that whilst editing my first wedding, I was devastated to realise that I hadn’t taken a close up of the rings. The bride and groom didn’t even notice but at the time, I considered it to be quite negligent. So why do we have the same old photographs taken at a wedding, the rings, the kiss, the never ending array of group shots? Surely a reportage style would be better suited to capture the essence of the day. It is true that things are changing, probably due to high competition in the market, originality is key and new styles are creeping through – ironically, in my quest for originality, I often browse other people’s work – go figure!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/joachimschmid/

http://weareoca.com/photography/an-interview-with-joachim-schmid/