On the Usefulness of Photography

Just as hearing a few lyrics can recall to you an entire song, having a catalog of photos that spans years allows you to easily recall what was happening say, two years ago this time, or how some project was going, or remind you just how long it took, or that it happened at all

What you should be recording are not the destination events of life so much as the much more mundane things: rainy mornings, making cookies, the process of building a shed or starting a garden, or your child trying to learn to brush his teeth.

In pictures from a road trip to the Yosemite valley, pictures of the Yosemite vistas were not the most interesting interesting. What was interesting was seeing my uncle and mother as children, and how they got on in their RV. This has always stuck with me, and for years I tried to not take any photos unless a person was in frame

My hope is that the quest every day for a good photo causes you to be outdoors and on foot more. On foot it is impossible to remain out of touch. You notice a lot more of the world, which is the point, because observation is a skill to be developed, and a necessary one before understanding aesthetics.

Learning to be on the lookout for beautiful things is a way of contesting the relentlessly rationalistic view of the world that surrounds us. Just as we produce thoughts by talking things over, we produce memories by composing them and reflecting. By taking lots of photos you may come to find more things you cherish.