# Resolved: I'm not taking photos of "stuff" anymore **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 18, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-im-not-taking-photos-of-stuff-anymore/827988 "2019-01-18T15:59:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2019, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-im-not-taking-photos-of-stuff-anymore/827988/21 "2019-01-20T03:23:56Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > My approach, as a serious photographer for many years, is to take hundreds of shots, enjoying the process of imagining the different angles, seeing things in multiple ways in my mind, and trying different lenses and apertures. > > …then I cull … heavily. > > I try to get down to a few dozen. By starting with several hundred shots from a cross country road trip and whittling that down to 35, they all end up being amazing shots. Then I have them printed in a nice bound album. > > My favorite exercise was a trip to India with co-workers, where we pooled our photos, eventually ending up with about 1500 shots all together. I got home and culled down to about 40 or 50 amazing shots and had a really neat photo album printed. > > People love these albums—nobody wants to sit through a 200 photo slide show, but paging through 20 pages of awesome shots is actually enjoyable. Yes, thank you for understanding people’s interest limitations. On a video forum I frequent, there are numerous posters insisting that everyone in their family wants every minute of the the hundreds of hours of video they have. Truth is, after about 10-15 minutes of seeing grandma and grandpa, their interest probably drops very quickly. The example I use is to watch people when there’s a slideshow or video playing at function or party. People only perk up when they see themselves or someone directly related to them (by company department or immediate family relationship) and generally ignore the rest. Same with aural information, especially if you’re in a situation where you’ve already heard the same story multiple times. I ask out of politeness and tune out after the first minutes. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2019, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-im-not-taking-photos-of-stuff-anymore/827988/22 "2019-01-20T03:43:26Z")
I wish I has more pictures of my friends from back in college instead of, well, anything else that I took pictures of. As I get older I’m wishing I had more and more people pictures period. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2019, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-im-not-taking-photos-of-stuff-anymore/827988/23 "2019-01-20T20:32:45Z")
I have a friend who, whenever you’re traveling with her, spends every other minute handing her phone to someone and saying “Take a picture of me in front of this!” If her husband’s along, it’s awkward because then it’s “Take a picture of US…” and he clearly doesn’t want to play her little game. I want some credit: I have NEVER asked her “How many photos of yourself do you have?” or “But don’t you want a picture of [landmark you’re obscuring with your fake-smile selfie]?” I _have_ said “Okay, I’m just going to be in the moment, not taking any more pics today…” and put my phone away. I don’t get asked after that. Oh, this thread ties in beautifully with the De-clutter and Live Minimal threads. I like the idea of saving pics instead of objects. And I’m going to start culling at least half of the 2500+ photi on my phone right… now. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-im-not-taking-photos-of-stuff-anymore/827988/24 "2019-01-21T00:33:00Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > I wish I has more pictures of my friends from back in college instead of, well, anything else that I took pictures of. As I get older I’m wishing I had more and more people pictures period. I agree with this. It is interesting how the humble 24-frame roll of film with its requisite trips to the pharmacy for processing made many of us take only a few photos back in the day. I have plenty of photos of military hardware from my time in the Navy, but very few photos of my friends at the time. Nowadays with “all you can eat” photography it’s hard to imagine people not having photographs of close friends. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-im-not-taking-photos-of-stuff-anymore/827988/25 "2019-01-21T00:43:32Z")
A couple of years ago I decided to just stop taking any pictures on vacation, other than one or two of the family. I already have that goddamn smart phone in my hand enough at work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-im-not-taking-photos-of-stuff-anymore/827988.md?page=1)