Take that Pic

The following essay was inspired by the writer's colleague's photo album title: "Take Dem Pics B'fo I Busta Cap On Yo Ass!" as well as another colleague's course on Photography. (You guys know who you are)

True enough. Why do we?

Man, I believe, invents out of necessity. He invented the door so as to provide protection from outside forces--may it be the weather or malicious intruders--as well as to create a sense of privacy from the outside world. He then created the doorknob in order to make the operation of his previous invention a lot easier. It appears that man never did made anything that wasn't put to good use, even stuff like Spam and forwarded quote messages. Annoying and painfully irritating as they are, they seem to serve a purpose; in a not so purposeful way though.

With this, the question then turns on the contraption that captures reality and immortalizes it.

The camera.

Why, as said earlier, do we take pictures of each other?

I believe we do take photographs because we put value on something that, on a superficial level, might not be of much value to begin with. We cherish another person's smile, a friend's laugh, a loved one's warm embrace. With that, we want to remember those memories. Even though we may not be able to re-live those events again, we try to capture even a small millisecond of it--since we believe that that speck of a moment was worth immortalizing.

A camera does not only capture what is physical and visual. It also captures the emotions of those people in the photograph. Though it may not be explicit, and that the eyes are not able to see it, the sentiments are thoroughly embedded in a piece of 300x400 pixel photograph. The heart takes over what the senses cannot process. Upon seeing a photo, we not only see what it portrays, but we also feel; especially if we are in it.

We take pictures because we want to remember. We want to remember that certain giddy feeling, may it be a simple class picture, a lively party, or an intimate photo with our significant other. We want to remember because, sooner or later, we may take those memories for granted--or even worse, forget them altogether.

Photographs are a part of our lives. The primitive Neanderthal painstakingly created cave drawings, artists laboriously drew paintings of families, and--most importantly--we preserved time with just a click of a button. Hence, I ask, my dear readers, are photographs just a simple, superficial, "want" or a well-invented "need"?