There is a stereotype that some primitive cultures maintain a naive belief that photographs can capture the soul of the individual being photographed. We can be confident that it is probably not actually the case. That is, the existence of such a culture. We still have to confront why the myth persists, and why we have at least invented such a culture if only at the level of a bogus cocktail party anecdote. Why we may be left to say that if no such culture exists, it probably should. Because the harmlessness of image capturing is less clear.
Even at the altitude of our most advanced civilization we say photographs are taken not given, but we have forgotten the obvious wisdom that encodes our language. Similar wisdom, that is for some reason not prescribed to a primitive culture, reminds us to ignore abstractions from reality because they are too easily manipulated by others. We follow this advice and instead focus on abstracting ourselves by ourselves, like a marionette pulling its own strings, to the extent of cultivating our own private conceit of which we are the harshest critics and best customers.
The infinite stream of content that we swim in, upstream, as if mindlessly searching for the headwaters of instagram, the endless publishing and absorption of selfies, have blinded us to the risk of worshipping shadows of ourselves and interaction with others. The technologically facilitated distancing from the truth and forcing a trend towards homogeneity, dulling all sharp edges of personality, style, and cognition. It is a reduction. The algorithmically optimized feeds of graven images and stone buddhas could be dismissed as mere vanity or an invasion of privacy, but in the constant need to be seen, if only by ourselves, as if reminding ourselves we exist, it is obvious even to the willing participants that thirst-trapping it is a symptom of insecurity and not the liberation we all seek. Another phenomenon aptly named, after one of the most fundamental of all of our physical needs, and the most quick acting when it is denied. Thirst.
If we describe the naivety of a culture we likely invented, who are we really calling naive? It is clear. What is in every photograph, but cannot be captured is our greatest fear, that we have given our soul away for nothing, frame by frame.
Matthew Cameron 
There is a stereotype that some primitive cultures maintain a naive belief that photographs can capture the soul of the individual being photographed. We can be confident that it is probably not actually the case. That is, the existence of such a culture. We still have to confront why the myth persists, and why we have at least invented such a culture if only at the level of a bogus cocktail party anecdote. Why we may be left to say that if no such culture exists, it probably should. Because the harmlessness of image capturing is less clear.
Even at the altitude of our most advanced civilization we say photographs are taken not given, but we have forgotten the obvious wisdom that encodes our language. Similar wisdom, that is for some reason not prescribed to a primitive culture, reminds us to ignore abstractions from reality because they are too easily manipulated by others. We follow this advice and instead focus on abstracting ourselves by ourselves, like a marionette pulling its own strings, to the extent of cultivating our own private conceit of which we are the harshest critics and best customers.
The infinite stream of content that we swim in, upstream, as if mindlessly searching for the headwaters of instagram, the endless publishing and absorption of selfies, have blinded us to the risk of worshipping shadows of ourselves and interaction with others. The technologically facilitated distancing from the truth and forcing a trend towards homogeneity, dulling all sharp edges of personality, style, and cognition. It is a reduction. The algorithmically optimized feeds of graven images and stone buddhas could be dismissed as mere vanity or an invasion of privacy, but in the constant need to be seen, if only by ourselves, as if reminding ourselves we exist, it is obvious even to the willing participants that thirst-trapping it is a symptom of insecurity and not the liberation we all seek. Another phenomenon aptly named, after one of the most fundamental of all of our physical needs, and the most quick acting when it is denied. Thirst.
If we describe the naivety of a culture we likely invented, who are we really calling naive? It is clear. What is in every photograph, but cannot be captured is our greatest fear, that we have given our soul away for nothing, frame by frame.
Share this: