Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.

Digital Technology, Faith & Religion, Photography

Photography and Spiritual Formation (7): Philosophy

Søren_Kierkegaard
By La Biblioteca Real de Dinamarca - https://www.flickr.com/photos/45270502@N06/9645352916/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78022219

I follow a number of YouTube channels and people that are concerned with photography and, in particular, street photography – photography that is done typically with short focal length (say, 21-35mm) capturing slices of life in urban contexts. One good example of this is Matt Stuart’s work which is summarised in his book, Think Like a Street Photographer (2021), published by Sentanta Books. Nice short chapters focusing on one particular aspect, skill, or attitude to have doing this kind of photography.

Another photographer I follow is Roman Fox, a young British photographer who posts a mixture of YouTube videos highlighting cameras, technical skills, and travel advice. It’s an enjoyable down-to-earth channel, though I wish I could afford some of the kit he uses and to travel to some of his destinations. Somewhat unusually, Fox’s most recent YouTube video waxes a little more philosophically (or even theologically) about potential pitfalls of regret over photographic futures not realized. Fox stumbled across the following quote from Danish theologian, Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), which got him thinking.

The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you’ll never have.

Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or (1843)

While Fox does not go too deeply in the philosophical side of things (and not at all into the theological), he does reflect of the temptation of the photographer to be continually disappointed with the photographs taken because of the imagined photographs expected to be taken but which haven’t been. Helpful for reminding us to enjoy the process and experience of photography for what it is, not what didn’t eventuate in imagined futures. You can see his video at the link below:

Roman Fox – The Worst Photography Habit (14 April 2022)

Check out his other videos at: https://www.youtube.com/c/snapsbyromanfox