Portraits to Selfies

A picture is worth a thousand words and the moments they capture are priceless.  It’s time to celebrate Camera Day!

child-2299483_640The history of the “camera” goes way back, I’m talking 391 B.C. back.  The desire to capture our existence with images is as old as the human race.  So today we salute the camera and the significant inventors who paved the way for the selfie stick; Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, Louise-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, William Henry Fox Talbot, and George Eastman.  Like computers, the first cameras were entire rooms.  I’m sure the fathers of photography never thought a camera would be carried around in our pockets on a mini device that has a thousand other functions.

The design and ingenuity of cameras have come a long way, but they have consistently captured the good, the bad, and the embarrassing of generations for centuries.  From your first bath to your prom photo, someone has captured a blackmail photo for the record.  In addition to being a crucial part of the millennial lifestyle, photographs are used in every profession.  Preserving crime scenes, historical events, scientific research, and ending the careers of many public figures, we trust cameras to capture the often debated truth.  Without cameras, there’d be less accountability and sometimes less drama.  Of course, we’d miss the drama.  From the flick of a snapshot to the flicker of the “silver screen” cameras have propelled aspirations into reality and reality T.V.

photographer-1080016_1280Have fun and celebrate today!  Do not celebrate by placing any pictures on social media you don’t want your great-grandchildren to ask you about in 20 years.   Do not celebrate today by recreating that family photo where you were sitting half dressed on your rocking horse swinging a lasso.  You may celebrate today by creating a Sci-fi pet calendar, but I don’t want to see it.  You may celebrate today by creating a photo album where you’re dressed up as every Marvel comic book character, but I don’t want to see it.  You may have the cutest kid on Earth, but I don’t want to see a million flicks of her eating a cupcake, using the toilet, or doing nothing at all whatsoever but sitting on the bed. Have fun, explore nature, learn to develop a photo in a dark room (which was offered as an elective when I was in middle school, but we’ll not discuss my age), or admire the photography of professionals.  Say, “Cheese,” and…


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Today’s References: Wikipedia, Biography, Photododo, History