Say: "CHEESE"

Last week in the USA something remarkable was witnessed.
It was a group of people, obviously family and friends.
One of them had a small digital camera.
And she took a picture of all of them.
Standing in a group, arms across each other’s shoulders.

The woman taking the picture was fully adapted to her digital camera.
In the past, when we were using analogue cameras that were using 35 mm film that had to be developed and printed, we had to look through a range finder to get more or less an idea what was going to be in the image.
But many digital cameras have no more range finders.
On the back of the camera is a screen like a mini-TV.
And from there one can decide when and of what to make the picture.

This different approach has resulted in a completely different manifestation of a person taking a picture.
Before, the camera was in front of the face and pushed against the right eye.
But now the camera is held by two outstretched arms in front of the picture taker.
There is a distance now between camera and photographer.
Before, it was like looking into a microscope.
As if the image was pushed into the brains and the awareness.
A physical contact between camera and mind.

In listening to music we see the same phenomenon.
A person can listen to music by having loudspeakers.
The music fills the space in which the person is.
It is therefore everybody’s music to listen to.
But we can also listen with headphones.
The experience becomes then most personal and direct.
The music is fed directly into the ears and consequently the mind: a direct link excluding others.

Looking at a screen on the back of a digital camera, opens the view for the persons being photographed, to see the photographer more as a person.
His or her face is not hidden by a camera anymore like in the days of analogue photography.
It is like hearing the music another person decides to listen to.

Seeing this group picture being taken recently, another conclusion came to mind.
The woman taking the picture, arms outstretched towards her family and friends, instructed them just before pushing the button on her digital camera:
Say: “CHEESE”.
And all of them said:
“CHEESE”.

Now, this “CHEESE”-thing is a very old trick in the bag of a photographer.
It has been used for ages.
To make people look happy and smiling in a picture.
And this remarkable trick, only applicable in English speaking countries, has remained.
It survived the digital revolution.

Some things change.
Some things remain the same.