Have you noticed that every gadget that is created these days has a camera built in it? Smartphones, computers, tablets, kids gaming platforms like the Nintendo DS are a few examples. I think the only toys I have without a camera in them are my GPS and my eReader and even they have been looking at me kinda strangely these days!
In less than a month my family and I will be flying to Maui for a much deserved vacation. Between the four of us, we will be carrying a total of 7 cameras on various devices and believe me, we could take plenty more! I do have cameras which are specifically designed to be nothing but cameras and we'll be taking three on our trip. Some perform specific functions like one is better at videoing in HD, another is bombproof and works well underwater, and one is easily carried in a pocket. I'm leaving my big SLR camera with all the lenses and whatnot at home this time.
Is it social media that is driving all this camera madness? Perhaps, but I am a self-confessed geek who loves technology and toys. My family has come to expect me to have my vacation pictures uploaded and shared daily no matter where I am in the world. My parents and inlaws have been housebound for years and really appreciate it.
So to end this particular blog entry with a little irony, I will not add a picture to it.
Are we also losing the art of description? We don't need to explain anything any more; just take a picture of it. Note for example the change in literature over the past century. Literature that was written before the age of television or radio was highly descriptive. Now readers have a different form of imagination and doesn't require the same attentiveness to detail.
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