Shootin' It Straight - Looking Lens

Sitting beside one of the children as they opened their phone, I noticed a full page of pictures of themselves. Granted, many were goofy and lighthearted, while others were simply pictures of various outfits. As a standalone event, this is hardly earth shattering news. Overall, though, it sadly points to a continuous “me first” society.

I think back to years ago when most everyone carried a wallet in a back pocket or a purse filled with clear vinyl photo albums housing pictures of children, spouses, and grandchildren. We would have ridiculed any adult who whipped out a wallet filled with glamor shots of themselves. The general consensus would have been that they were so stuck on themselves it was laughable.

Those totes shoved in the bottom of a closet or under a bed are filled with aging Polaroid pictures from years past. Most will be of kids’ birthday parties, graduations, weddings, and other memorable occasions. There will be that picture of Dad holding his trophy catfish on a lake vacation. Another will have Uncle Bill standing proudly beside the new Ford he bought after coming back from the war. There’ll be Grandma beaming away as she overlooks the food table at a family reunion in ’85. You’ll find some off-center shots of the cactus dotting the desert on that western trip. That blurry picture of Niagara Falls was taken with a 110 Kodak camera and mailed off for development.

We used to place a premium on capturing memorable moments through a lens. We documented the progression of life from behind a camera. The focus was on others. The flash was pointed at historical landmarks, statues, world wonders, things that captured the imagination, and opportunities we might see only once or twice in a lifetime.

Before a camera stayed ever-present in our hands, perhaps we placed a little more value on a still-frame capture. We chose to freeze a moment in time that we witnessed because we deemed it important.

I believe the camera facing inward more and more is a sign of the times. It speaks to an overall selfish nature that many of us have gradually allowed to overtake us. Many seem to believe they need to be seen to be relevant. They compare their picture and the reaction it receives to everyone else's, using likes and comments to determine whether the picture, and perhaps even themselves, is worthy.

We sell ourselves out on shallowness. We let large swaths of the world slip by as we stare into a lens. We base ourselves on proving things to others through a photograph. We feed this trend by elevating those on social media who have nothing more to offer than a surface deep picture.

Somewhere along the way, we forgot that the camera can capture more than our own reflection.

We now carry in our hands the means to document nearly every corner of the world. We can photograph a sunset, a child’s first steps, an old barn, a fish pulled from the creek, a family gathered around a table, or a place we may never see again.

The technology isn't the problem. Perhaps it's what we choose to point it toward.

Maybe when we mailed our film in envelopes three states away and waited days or weeks to see the results, a photograph meant a little more. Maybe the inconvenience made us stop and consider whether the moment was worth capturing.

Maybe instant gratification has simply played right into the worst parts of us.

The world is still full of things worth seeing. There are people worth remembering, places worth documenting, and moments worth freezing in time.

So as the world slips by in front of us, let's make sure the camera is pointed in the right direction.