Authenticity

This blog went to sleep at around the time that Facebook became part of my life. Many other things changed and I could not dedicate the time I wanted to make it something I could be happy with. I'm coming back to it, because I want to share my thoughts: on the world, on my readings, on life. But also, because I'm tired of being formatted.

Facebook has become this place where anything goes, and where what was meant to be a community space now feels like a trapped crowd.  Twitter is an interesting way to direct traffic to information, and to listen in, but the 140 characters become suffocating. It redirects creativity toward brevity rather than toward accuracy. Both also contribute to a great deal of energy investment into perception management. Life is too short for that.

I'm coming back to some level of freedom, and one of the triggers was this article from Scott Bourne:

Authentic photographers have stopped trying to be what the world wants them to be. That’s rigid thinking. They have to be able to first see themselves from different angles and then, be able to see others from different angles. Finally, they need to be able to see the world and their subjects from different angles. In other words, few authentic photographers are rigid. If you have a rigid view of any of these things – if you’re not flexible in your thinking…if you’re not open-minded….if you can’t consider other points of view, it’s hard to be authentic. You’re responding to what you think you should be doing instead of what you really want to be doing. If you’re too rigid for your own good you’re probably trying to tell the story that someone else thinks you should be telling with your camera and not your own.

- Scott Bourne, photographer, Photofocus, May 4th, 2011 -