Taking fewer photos is better?

[hap]

Depends on the context. This article written by a noted memory expert makes some interesting points.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health...o-remember-the-moment-try-taking-fewer-photos

 

[agentlossing]

I read the article, I think these claims are often exaggerated. But it isn't really speaking about photographers, more about compulsive social-media snappers, who are more concerned with showing their lives to other people than experiencing it. Consider the "tips" in the article:

Tips: how to make photography help — not harm — your memories
Have someone else take the photos. This is key, says Soares. Ask a friend or family member to oversee photo-taking at especially important events "so you can be fully engaged with the event itself."

Be intentional with the photos you're taking. Choosing what we take photos of more deliberately helps too. "Research suggests that deciding what to photograph might reduce the ill effects on memory and even enhance enjoyment," says Nathaniel Barr, a professor of creativity and creative thinking at Sheridan College.

In that same vein, Henkel suggests considering why you're taking the photo. "If we more mindfully think about our goals in taking photos, we can improve our memories from our experiences," she says

Focus in on details. If you immerse yourself in the details of a scene as you prepare to take a photo, that process can help anchor memories, according to New York University's Barasch. "As we search the visual field to decide what to capture in a photo, we are more likely to commit those details to memory," she says. As such, "taking photos can actually enhance memory for certain details in an experience."

Take a few good pictures; then put down the phone. If your goal is to remember a special trip or event, Henkel says, limit the time with your camera out. "You might want to take a few pics at the beginning, then put your camera away and soak in the rest of the experience," she says.

Look at your photos regularly. Photos are an effective tool for memory retention only if we take the time to look at photos — which many of us don't do, says Henkel: "We need to take the time to look at photos after the experiences and reactivate those mental representations."

Organize your photos into albums. Henkel says the best way to make sure you look at your photos regularly is to "make them manageable and accessible" since you are unlikely to scroll through lists of photos. Organize them in a digital album or print them out, she suggests.

Most of these, with the exception of the first and maybe the "take a few, then put down the phone" just describe what photographers do. It ain't about taking photos or not taking photos, it's about whether you're present in the moment, experiencing it yourself, or you're acting like some kind of "pass-through" for your social media followers, trying to hype up your lifestyle or entertain. It's a bigger issue of addiction to the mechanics of social websites and the internet in general (which MANY suffer from), not a thing to do with photography really.

 

[BillBingham2]

Yeah, errrr, ummm, not sure on this one.

I wonder how a culture like the Japanese, who have/had cameras and photography as an iniquitous aspect long before smart phones kicked low end cameras butts would fit in this study?

B2 (;-?

 

[css9450]

They lost me with "phone".

 

[hap]

I happen to know about Dr Loftus as we are faculty same University. She has been at the lead of the field of retrieved memories, especially in legal contexts. The "phone" aspect of article criticism applies. I rarely use my phone to document anything and my photography is 99% analog. (yes, a sort of dinosaur). However, a certain minimalism seems appropriate no matter the medium....including speech.

 

[BillBingham2]

..... I rarely use my phone to document anything and my photography is 99% analog. (yes, a sort of dinosaur).....

So we have found the illusive Hap-Asaurs in his native environment......

I use by iPhone 12Pro to take pictures of receipts, documents, problems around the house (e.g., Broken Door), not to share, but to have a level of detail that frankly I would NEVER maintain without that crutch.

Not sure I've ever taken pictures of a meal, though puppies, family, events, etc are all in libraries. Frankly, 25 years ago they most of these would have been on film.

B2 (;->

 

[hap]

So we have found the illusive Hap-Asaurs in his native environment......

I use by iPhone 12Pro to take pictures of receipts, documents, problems around the house (e.g., Broken Door), not to share, but to have a level of detail that frankly I would NEVER maintain without that crutch.

Not sure I've ever taken pictures of a meal, though puppies, family, events, etc are all in libraries. Frankly, 25 years ago they most of these would have been on film.

B2 (;->

I review thousands of digital medical images every day. I don't need any more in that format. But I will amend my statement from 1% phone pics to 5%. Reciepts, documents, etc.....get scanned by Fujitsu.

 

[Godfrey]

Yeah, errrr, ummm, not sure on this one.

I wonder how a culture like the Japanese, who have/had cameras and photography as an iniquitous aspect long before smart phones kicked low end cameras butts would fit in this study?

B2 (;-?

(bolded) I presume you meant "ubiquitous" rather than "iniquitous" ... ??

I happen to know about Dr Loftus as we are faculty same University. She has been at the lead of the field of retrieved memories, especially in legal contexts. The "phone" aspect of article criticism applies. I rarely use my phone to document anything and my photography is 99% analog. (yes, a sort of dinosaur). However, a certain minimalism seems appropriate no matter the medium....including speech.

I use my phone and the cameras in my phone to do all kinds of things, including make photographs and capture things visually for records keeping purposes.

In the article, this ... "Need an analogy? If you write down someone's phone number, you're less likely to remember it offhand because your brain tells you there's just no need. That's all well and good — until that slip of paper goes missing" ... does not match my experience at all. If I don't write down someone's phone number, I forget it instantly. If I do write it down, the likelihood is that I'll never need to find that 'slip of paper' again because it has been encoded into my memory and musculature.

As in so many things, making a lot of photos isn't necessarily bad, and making a few photos isn't necessarily good. Whether capturing with a digital camera or on film is irrelevant. Making photos without considering the intent of the picture taking activity leads to dull, lifeless, useless chaff filling up your photo shoebox, it's like doing anything in a mindless and repetitive fashion: there's little point to it, and little future memory value to it. Of course you won't remember those moments ... your mind was busy pressing the button on the camera or phone, you weren't actually looking at the things you were photographing.

The tiny, key, and important point in this article is that if you want to remember what you're doing, you have to think about it and have intent in doing it. Not just press the button endlessly, and not just refrain from pressing the button "so you experience the moment and to heck with the photos" either. Experience the world around you, participate in it, do things with joy and abandon, and choose the moments when you make a photograph to capture the feeling, the mood, the place, and the memory of your actions with some reason and sense... 🙂

G

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Is this early childhood education program article?
Where are way too many professors doing nothing but been Captain Obvious.

"Oooh, don't hold phone for too long, it is going to hurt your memory. Oooh, put your the pictures in album".

 

[hap]

(bolded) I presume you meant "ubiquitous" rather than "iniquitous" ... ??



I use my phone and the cameras in my phone to do all kinds of things, including make photographs and capture things visually for records keeping purposes.

In the article, this ... "Need an analogy? If you write down someone's phone number, you're less likely to remember it offhand because your brain tells you there's just no need. That's all well and good — until that slip of paper goes missing" ... does not match my experience at all. If I don't write down someone's phone number, I forget it instantly. If I do write it down, the likelihood is that I'll never need to find that 'slip of paper' again because it has been encoded into my memory and musculature.

As in so many things, making a lot of photos isn't necessarily bad, and making a few photos isn't necessarily good. Whether capturing with a digital camera or on film is irrelevant. Making photos without considering the intent of the picture taking activity leads to dull, lifeless, useless chaff filling up your photo shoebox, it's like doing anything in a mindless and repetitive fashion: there's little point to it, and little future memory value to it. Of course you won't remember those moments ... your mind was busy pressing the button on the camera or phone, you weren't actually looking at the things you were photographing.

The tiny, key, and important point in this article is that if you want to remember what you're doing, you have to think about it and have intent in doing it. Not just press the button endlessly, and not just refrain from pressing the button "so you experience the moment and to heck with the photos" either. Experience the world around you, participate in it, do things with joy and abandon, and choose the moments when you make a photograph to capture the feeling, the mood, the place, and the memory of your actions with some reason and sense... 🙂

G

Hmm..I thought this was photography website. Not a group therapy session at EST.
🙂

 

[Godfrey]

Hmm..I thought this was photography website. Not a group therapy session at EST.
🙂

I dunno ... You posted a link to a mostly vapid editorial piece masquerading as some kind of science/health article about improving memory, which stated little other than "Pay attention!" Is that about Photography?

G

 

[Archiver]

So we have found the illusive Hap-Asaurs in his native environment......

I use by iPhone 12Pro to take pictures of receipts, documents, problems around the house (e.g., Broken Door), not to share, but to have a level of detail that frankly I would NEVER maintain without that crutch.

Not sure I've ever taken pictures of a meal, though puppies, family, events, etc are all in libraries. Frankly, 25 years ago they most of these would have been on film.

B2 (;->

I take photos of everything, from the documents and receipts you mention, as well as the meals, events etc that you don't. These images allow me to know what I was doing on almost any given day. Mind you, I also write accounts of every day in my journal, which adds a layer of reinforcement to my memory process.

For me, the more images the better, the more detailed journal recollections, the better.