The Last Blog Entry - A Question of Community

Except for the title image, I did not take any photos for this blog entry. With this being the last blog entry for this dog and pony show, I decided to outsource that responsibility to my partners-in-crime. After all, they all have a smart phone. That means they can all do the photo taking for me - especially since none of us are presently in the same location. I am in Northern Japan, Lydia is in the Canadian Rockies, and Judit has moved to Vietnam. Only Anna is in Hong Kong, since her holiday on the Orthodox calendar has yet to start.

With the photos of this final blog entry sorted out, the next question is what to write about. Originally, I wanted to end this blog with a discussion on the supremacy of smart devices in taking photos. But that is just too sobering a topic to end this dog any pony show. Instead, what I want to do is indulge a little and write about the issue of community - that is - the interaction that I have experienced over the last three and a half years of blogging - which frankly wasn’t something I had expected when I first embarked on this kookie undertaking.

Admittedly, I might seem like the last person in the world to write about community. After all, I haven’t exactly been conscientious in meeting up with the readers of this blog. I mean, I do not do photowalks, coffee, and drinks. And when it comes to your appreciation of my efforts, I haven’t exactly been willing to accept many of your expressions of gratitude, given that I do not believe I am deserving of nice words and acts of kindness. I mean, it is not like this dog and pony show is doing anything to make the world a better place.

But that does not mean that I haven’t done my part to be neighborly - albeit limited online. In doing so, I have come to appreciate how far this blog has reached worldwide, which is both humbling and perplexing, given how my writing often requires one to have a firm grasp of esoteric English references. And regardless of my best efforts to complicate my weekly blog entries with poetic license (if you could call it that), out of a sake of my own amusement, many from around the world still continue to visit this blog week after week.

The world is a very small place. Despite differences in geography, cultural norms, and ideological beliefs, we all share a commonality that connects us all. We all love photography. And it has nothing to do with taking wonderful pictures, the acquisition of gear, or the practice of photography itself. It is the camaraderie that photography affords in bringing us all closer together. Even for someone as private and reclusive as me, I too have welcomed new faces into my life, while being accepted into a larger photographic community.

Given that, wouldn’t I be retreating from this community, now that this blog is coming to a close? Over the last couple of weeks, I have received many emails and direct messages from many lamenting what I would be discarding in ending this blog - being all the effort I have undertaken in building it into a well respected online site with a healthy readership. Well, I am not exactly leaving this community, since I am not completely going gently into that goodnight. It is just that this current iteration of my effort has run its full course.

In ending this blog, all I am discarding is the format that I’ve been following over the last three and a half years - that is to say - a minimum of thirty one new photos and fifteen paragraphs per weekly entry. In no way does ending this blog mean I am retreating completely from this much larger community of photographers, all with the same shared passion. I mean, why would I? Interacting with many of you has been the best part of sharing a minimum of thirty one new photos and writing fifteen paragraphs week after week.

So many of you have touched my life by reaching out. Most notably, there is the red carpet photographer from New York who was amongst my first fifty Instagram followers, the retiree from Arizona who has become my penpal, the entertainment industry executive from Los Angeles who’s wife went to the same high school as me (go figure), the itinerant hand surgeon currently residing in South Dakota who loves the powdered slopes, and the expert from Illinois who is the authority on all things historical pertaining to Leica.

All of them and many more have enriched my life by sharing with me their personal accounts of how much photography have meant to them. Generally, we only skim the surface in the beginning, when most of our discussions revolve around image reproduction, gear advice, and the practice of photography. But over time, the discussion invariably turns into a discussion of experience, with regards to what the act of taking a simple photo did for them in a social context - whether with family, friends, clients, or strangers passing by.

You see, photography is largely a social act. It is about the people you photograph, the people you were with when you took the photograph, and the people with whom you will share your photograph. When framed from that perspective, all the quantifiable details surrounding how an image was taken becomes secondary to the moment in-frame, with why you took the photo, the circumstances leading to the moment of capture, and the feeling you had in getting the shot, all being the central narrative for retelling to others.

Disconnected from that social aspect, a photograph’s place in the world will invariably seem orphaned and out of place. I mean, what is a photograph without community? Without your family, what meaning does a photo of a newborn baby have? Or that baby’s first steps? First day at school? First on-stage recital? First track meet? First date? First milestones in graduating high school? College? Engagement? Marriage? Without any connection to a community, all these photographs will mean absolutely nothing at all.

And on a macro level, what would Steve McCurry’s Afghan Girl be without the National Geographic Society? Or Nick Ut’s Napalm Girl without the Associated Press? Or Richard Avedon’s Dovima with Elephants without Harper’s Bazaar? Or even Ellen DeGeneres’s group selfie taken by Bradley Cooper without the many millions worldwide watching the Oscars? Without the communities backed by institutional publishing and broadcast, all these photos will be as disconnected to anyone as any photo absent of social context.

As photographers, we need to be part of a community. It is what makes the act of photography a meaningful experience. We need each other to make our heartfelt love of photography real. If nothing else, this is what I have learned over the last three and a half years of creating content for this dog and pony show. It is not the gear or the technical setting or even the photo itself that I will remember. Rather, it is the act of taking photos with my partners-in-crime and the subsequent post mortem discussing it with those reaching out to me.

I am thankful to have made this personal discovery, even though it’s obvious and has always been on the tip of my nose. Often times, many of us marginalize the importance of community in photography. We want to believe it is an individual pursuit that satisfies our own personal desires. I know this mindset because I was stuck on that belief for many years. But there is this whole world out there of passionate people, all with the same shared interest of taking photos. I mean, how wonderful is it that there is this community of like minds!

That said, it is understandable that my inclusive sentiment may seem disingenuous, given how reclusive I am. I’ve even disabled the site’s comment section. It’s not personal. It’s just a question of free time. Even so, I still always make time to reply to those who email or message me legitimate questions. I may not be able to help those in need - in real time and real life. But, I am always willing to offer my feedback on top of the effort I undertake in creating these blog entries. If that isn’t a demonstration of community, then I don’t know what is.

So for my next act, what will I be doing? Originally, I had planned on a seamless transition on a big surprise. However, I have encountered some delays raining on my parade. For now, I will be taking a bit of a break. And from time to time, I might ask Mr. Japan Camera Hunter to allow me to slum on his site as a guest contributor. But it goes without saying, I do not want to add to this blog anymore. I like the way this dog and pony show looks at two hundred and one blog entries. So as far as my OCD is concerned, this chapter of my life is closed.

Looking forward to the next couple of months, I might start on a new interim project. If I do, the format will not be weekly, a minimum of thirty one photos, and fifteen paragraphs. If I can figure out what to do, I would like this project to be less rigid in format and more varied in scope, ranging from bite size morsels to much larger undertakings. Of course, all this is still speculative. It is not as if I have a “Plan B”, in the event that my seamless transition is delayed. I mean, I still want to be a part of a community that shares the same passions.

Anyway, thank you all for taking the time to visit this kookie blog of mine. You have all made this a worthwhile experience, despite all my many goof-ups along the way. I also want to thank Craig at the Leica Store New York Soho. You are truly a sage of all things Leica amongst experts in the field. And last, I want to thank my three partners-in-crime in their order of appearance - Anna, Judit, and Lydia. Collaborating with the three of you has been fun, which if you think about it, is really the point of community. Photography should be fun!

So until next time, à beintôt, 再見, and hasta la vista baby! And before I forget, have a Happy New Year!

Other than the title image, I did not take any of the photos on this blog entry, since we all went our separate ways. I am guessing that each set of photos were taken by my partners-in-crime’s significant other. That said, I wasn’t going to take any photos for this last entry, since I have been sick with pneumonia for the last ten days.

Some images have been touched up. Two of Lydia’s image have been cropped. The last two images have had their color balanced tweaked.

Disclaimer

Dec 31 The Last Blog Entry - A Question of Community

Disclaimer

Dec 31 The Last Blog Entry - A Question of Community

Dec 18 Leica 90mm f/1.5 Summilux-M ASPH

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