Apropos is a good word.

Apropos and as a follow-on to my previous post about Photography and people blocking shots with their hand (Oh, I'm not going to link to it, just look two inches down the page), I add this: On Thursday, Gonzo, while sitting on the other side of the pod from me as I was trying to organise something at my desk, held up his fancy schmancy digital SLR and started snapping photos without looking into the viewfinder. I, being extremely busy as well as annoyed by other things, held up my hand to block him. He then cited the blog entry, saying "Don't you hate people who do that?" This gave me pause, but in my head I can up with an answer. He was not taking photos because he found what I was doing interesting. He did not think I looked good. He was not even looking at the pictures he was taking. He was using the camera simply as a tool to annoy or provoke a reaction from me. This then gave me the right to block with my hand.

I read on someone's Twitter that smart Twitterers and Bloggers were part of the "Douchenozzle Offset Program". This made me smile.

"Oh, don't take a photo!"

I’m finally taking a stand.

 

I hate, hate, HATE people who:

 

1.   A) flinch away, or try to block their face with their hand when you try to take a photo

 

-or-

 

2.   B) people who, upon seeing a perfectly fine-looking photo of themselves that you just took, will exclaim “Oh, God! I look ugly/fat/stupid! Delete that!”

 

Seriously, I’m over it.

 

As someone who takes a lot of pictures (nearly 4000 this year alone), nothing frustrates me more. This is especially bad when I’m trying to take a candid photo to actually capture a funny or interesting moment that I feel would make a good and well-composed picture. That candid photo is ruined when the person becomes a cringing blur as they exhibit behaviour A. Yes, I know that everyone’s image is their own business and that I shouldn’t be taking photos without permission, but come ON. Behaviour B seemed to be more of the ingrained body-conscious insecurity that’s drilled into people (of which I myself am an occasional victim) in which we must automatically downplay ourselves as ugly for fear of being considered arrogant and conceited (or worse, actually believe that we are unattractive and dismiss ourselves out of hand).

 

In any case, it comes down to this:

 

1.   I am a photographer and therefore (for better or worse) am an artist (of some sort).

2.   The pictures I compose and attempt to compose (for better or worse), are art (of some sort).

3.   Therefore, the people and objects in the picture (for better or worse), are part of that art (of some sort) and are worthy/interesting.

4.   Therefore, shut your face about it. I think you look good/interesting in this photos and that’s that.

 

These thoughts were kicked into action by a farewell I was at last night, and two friends of whom I took a candid photo of two people I know sitting by a wall and laughing at what a person standing nearby had said. The candid photo was natural and looked great. They then noticed I was taking photos and got quite embarrassed saying “Oh, delete that, I’m sure it looked terrible.” Despite having not seen the photo. I tried to downplay the situation by saying “Well, if you don’t want me to take a bad photo, let me take a good one.” (my mantra of sorts), and they posed. Then viewed the picture. “I look terrible in that one,” one said. “Take another.” They posed again. Repeat times 5. In the end, I just walked away. When I looked at the results, the two best-focused and best-looking photos were the first two I’d taken. Also, after putting the photos on Facebook, I got a narky comment about the candid one, stating “When did you take this, how dare you, I’m going to kill you when I see you next OMG.”

 

I can’t win. Frankly, I miss my old camera-phone, where you could take a picture without making a shutter sound, so people wouldn’t know (though, the camera was no good, and I know they auto-enabled the noise to stop locker-room shots and such).

 

So yes, if you’re one of the people like Craig and Stevie and Ted, of whom I can take many many photos and just love the attention, then I salute you.

 

 

Lucas Brown | Proxy Champignon
Master of Brainthinking

 

Funny Aneurism Moment

I was playing InFamous this morning and had an odd moment. I had taken a side mission involving a poison vat atop a water tower, defended by bad guys. I defeated the mooks, then approached the tower, which was on top of an apartment building. As per the game's morality system, I was given a choice: use lightning to overload the tower from a distance, thus sparing myself from the poison, and causing the poison to flood the water tower (that's bad); or using a shockwave to explode the tank close-up, which aerates the poison, saves the water, but doses me fairly severely (that's good, I guess).

So I chose the second option. I got close, let off a shockwave & destroyed the tank. I was dosed with the poison, but in an unforseen consequence, the canister exploded, knocking me off the tower and the building. Mid-plummet-to-my-death, a legend appeared on the screen: 

"Congratulations! Your actions have made you slightly more Good."

Legend disappears. I continue falling. 

Splat.

I feel gooder already.