RFF, a great social experiment?

[Ducky]

The other day I commented on a gallery pix of two boys playing on rope swings. They were in the Ukrain I think, but that's my point, they could have been anywhere. So many photos in the gallery could be taken almost anywhere, restaurants look the same, kids playing look the same, lovely girls having tea look the same.
Happiness and joy look the same. So does poverty and sadness.
Is it just us drawn to these things or is it, in fact, really that way?
Are we a window to reality shining at the bottom of the internet barrel or just a bunch of guys & gals with cameras?

Something to ponder.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

We speak a language: the language of images. Hence, we show images that suggest emotions and feelings to others who can read them and also reply with their own versions of images that also show these attributes. In short, we're guys with cameras who, above and besides the written code, speak "imagese"... 🙂

As for a social experiment... we are too! As a community, we've evolved into following a certain pattern, adopted our authorities, have our respected "elders" and "misfits" and, in short, relationships and lingo (talk about GAS vs SOFA).

There you go! 🙂

 

[Todd.Hanz]

We speak a language: the language of images. Hence, we show images that suggest emotions and feelings to others who can read them and also reply with their own versions of images that also show these attributes. In short, we're guys with cameras who, above and besides the written code, speak "imagese"... 🙂

As for a social experiment... we are too! As a community, we've evolved into following a certain pattern, adopted our authorities, have our respected "elders" and "misfits" and, in short, relationships and lingo (talk about GAS vs SOFA).

There you go! 🙂

well said.

Todd

 

[kshapero]

I'll say one thing, I sure have met some really nice folks here, some by now in person.

 

[Roger Hicks]

As the Buddha pointed out, all sentient beings desire happiness and the causes of happiness, and to avoid suffering and the causes of suffering. Despite this, a lot of photographers seem to like photographing suffering and the causes of suffering. Because it makes them feel better, perhaps? If so, why?

To address the original question more exactly, yes, the experiences of happiness and suffering probably overlap a lot. The precise causes don't: 'relative poverty' (no colour TV in the UK) is not the same as absolute poverty (wondering where your next meal is coming from, gathering twigs from the forest to cook the food you can afford, withdrawing your child from school because you can't afford her school fees).

On a much lighter note, there's a big difference between a crowded city and a rural idyll, or the frozen north and the warm south.

And, regardless of the subject matter, some people's pictures can make us feel that we're there, and make us identify with their subjects (happy or sad), and others can't.

Of course many of the pics in the gallery could have been taken anywhere. But some couldn't.

Cheers,

R.