The Camera looks both ways......

You may have heard that expression before.  Lately, I can’t go a week without it being mentioned either in an article or a podcast.  I believe the first time I heard it was from the great Rick Sammon. 

I have found it to be very true and also very thought provoking.  The general idea is that there is something of you in every picture you take.  I suppose that can mean a lot of different things.

For some the meaning is that your subject will take on the same emotions you have as the photographer.  If you are unhappy or uncomfortable - you will probably get the same results from them. 

This was one attempt of getting an Easter picture of my son.  Joshua didn’t have much interest at the time for sitting through it.  So instead of postponing it, I pushed through while getting equally frustrated.  I think we both had the same expression when I snapped this one.

But maybe more importantly the phrase also speaks to what is important to us.  We tend to take pictures of things we care about or at least interest us.  We obviously take more pictures of friends and family then acquaintances. 

Even in other types of photography, it is common for people to have a special interest.  Whether you like landscapes or wildlife or whatever -  there is a good chance you shoot a bunch of the same stuff.  Or maybe not.  Perhaps you have a wide range of interest and your’e all over the place.  That’s cool, too.  Either way I think what we shoot reflects something about us. 

It’s almost like creating a pictorial autobiography for others to learn about us.  It’s too bad our ancestors didn't live in this digital age where they could have left a Flickr pool for us to review.  We would know so much more. 

What will your pictures say about you?