A picture can be worth a thousand words. In many contexts, this notion is incredibly true, especially in the context of spontaneous photography in the moment.
By spontaneous photography I mean the idea of taking a picture in the moment without any specific setup. This idea is seen especially in many crazy-looking wide angle shots taken on any given cell phone camera.
Throughout my four years at MHS, I think I have easily taken well over a hundred “point-fives” of friends to document any moment. There’s a certain beauty in this, as time will show that these four years have a lot to remember. In any given photo, you could expect to find significance in the location, the people you’re with, or the story behind why you decided to take a picture in the first place. All of this can be achieved with a click of the button, but there’s something more meaningful about having a wide angle picture of your friends that can be looked back upon years later.
A point-five shot can add so much depth to an image that a typical photo cannot grasp. It’s a simple, yet silly representation of how high school life has evolved and how the gatherings we’ve had can be meaningful in retrospect. The photos I take during this time will forever remain locked in memory and will always carry a story with them, whether they were taken at a gathering or simply in the moment. Often you can peer more in depth to what someone’s character may be like aside from how a general image turns out. In other words, the act of taking a wide-angle picture in itself is a key tool in understanding a person’s friendship and personality more deeply.
As we move on to the next few years of our lives, it’s worth it to remember why we remember the things we do. Most of our memories come from establishing connections and taking photos in moments that we want to cherish. For me and my friends, point-fives will be a staple of moments like these moving forward, no matter how strange or out of ordinary it may seem. In the end, it’s important to remember how we record and keep track of any given fleeting moment in time, and I think this is one of the most interesting ways to do so.
