Order in Disorder

A few days ago, one of my friends (S/o to Derrick) randomly came up to me and asked me about my Instagram and it was something that I had never really thought about before. My answer was something I did subconsciously while knowing the actual answer in the back of my mind. Derrick asked me, for one thing, why I post certain pictures in a particular fashion. He then followed that question up with asking why my Instagram photos are not always on the same subject and appears to be ‘random.’ Derrick said he wanted to know, from an artist’s perspective, why I do things in the fashion that I have been.

As I said above, I never really sat and thought about the questions that Derrick asked me. However, as soon as he asked, I immediately had my answers, which I will attempt to share here. Just a heads up, it is a little bit harder for me to articulate my ideas through writing and I would much rather present my ideas in person, but that’s one of the reasons I’m blogging in the first place: so I can practice. To answer Derrick’s first question of why I post certain pictures in a particular order, I can honestly say that there is no specific reason as to why I post certain pictures on a certain day. However, there is a method to the way I post and that’s just based on the way that I feel at the particular moment. With posting, my goal for quite some time now has been to try to post at least two photos every day: one in the morning and one at night. Before I even start my daily routines in the morning, I try to look for a photo to post around the time that most people (i think) should be waking up since I wake up a bit earlier than most people. To determine which photo I want to post, it really depends on how I am feeling at the particular moment because, some days, i will look back at a photo that I took 3 months ago and I’ll be particularly fond of it. However, at the time that I took the photo, it probably was not posted because I did not like it at that moment in time. In short, the picture that I post in the morning really depends on what photo catches my eye, if I can relate to it in any way at the time, and if I feel like there is a story behind it. The same concept is true for when I post in the evening. My photos, being what I believe to be a form of art, are representative of how I see things at the beginning and end of my days. Although I do not explain the photos, and often caption them with some corny inspirational and knowledgable quotes that i’ve come across, there are definitely stories, meanings, and feelings in each photo that I post, which leads me to my next point.

Derrick’s second question asks why my photographs appear to be arbitrary and have no order with the subjects that are being posted. The way I look at it (and this is going to sound extremely cheesy), I see that each person, animal, item, and object is capable of telling a story. Currently, I am writing this blog as I sit in my car at the beach, waiting for the start time of my intramural basketball game (lol not an athlete af). As I look around, it’s just easy for me to see that each item and person present here has some type of story to tell, whether its the graffitied garbage can to my left or the group of friends sitting by the waves in the distance. My point here is this: anything and everything can be used to tell a story. That has been my goal with photography since I started. I feel like anyone can own a camera and take some snapshots, but it is something else to be able to tell a story by freezing a moment in time with a photograph. The reason that my Instagram posts are not centered on one topic or item is because everything is about perception. An interesting idea from Dorothea Lange, a photographer from the early to mid 1900s, is the idea that a camera really helps people to see the world without a camera. That idea right there is the epitome of why I even got into photography, but that’s another story (which I have filmed in Vlog form but am not comfortable with posting just yet LOL) for down the road. Going back to perception. The way i look at the world, I just think that anything can be represented as a work of art. The concept of anything being used to tell a story and represent art is the very reason why I can photograph anything and post it while trying to make it look interesting. Derrick also asked why I post photos of random people on my instagram. That question can be answered with exactly the same reason as before. Everyone has a story to tell and there is beauty (corny) to be seen in anything and everything.

While this is an extremely corny blog (I cringed writing some of this but there was no other way to explain it), I do hope that this gives some insight as to what is going on in my head when I am posting or taking photos. Another reason I’ve been attempting to write these blogs is to hopefully inspire someone, even if just one person, to try to see the world in a different light by explaining how I perceive things. While I do not expect people to see things exactly the way I do, I just hope that my insight helps people learn from my points of view and try to find ways to form their own ideas about the world around them. Thank you for taking the time in reading this! I really do appreciate it if you read even just half of the blog. If you feel like you have a question or want to know what I think about a particular topic, please do feel free to contact me. All of my social media platforms are linked on the home page of my website and my email is readily available. Thank you again for taking time out of your day to read about my thoughts and ideas. Be back soon.