New Year's resolution: See more with my own eyes. Make fewer - and better - photographs.
New Year’s Day, the twenty-four-hour period where resolutions are born and usually perish by the second of January. What would be a simple, but worthwhile goal to set for 2024?
The seed for my resolution started on a chance trip I took in early December visiting cities and towns along the Rhine River from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. I was a late addition to the group, having only a couple of days to prepare. I was determined to pack light, a carry-on bag, a small shoulder bag.
My travel motto has always been “You are what you lug.” The hardest packing decisions were not what clothes or shoes to bring, but what cameras to carry? Departure day arrived and I had a three-tiered camera platform that all fit in a coat pocket, cell phone camera, tiny GoPro and a small point and shoot.
On a damp day in Strasbourg, France, an early stop on the trip, the city’s cathedral was surrounded by visitors with cell phones aimed high into the gray skies capturing its grandeur. Advanced image makers with “selfie sticks” filmed their own documentaries. I hung back to take in a statue.
Place Gutenberg honors the inventor of the printing press with a statue of him standing astride his creation. But what caught my eye was a steady stream of bubbles floating across the square. A nearby school had let out for the day and kids were chasing the rainbow tinted spheres.
I joined the cell phone shutterbugs on our daily outings and, yes, it was the main tool for my image making. Arriving in Amsterdam on our last day there was one must-visit destination, the Van Gogh Museum. Tickets are timed so that the crowds aren’t overwhelming. Working through his life’s work of paintings I was amazed to see how many of the visitors approached the art. Walk up, snap a cell photo and then move on to the next, a pixel collection of Van Goghs.
The trip’s last night finished with a boat ride along the city’s many canals decorated for their Holiday of Lights. This year’s theme was artificial intelligence, with illuminated sculptures by a variety of artists. The first one came into view, translucent human figures standing in the water, hunched over, all looking at their cell phones, glowing into the night. Our captain, Tony Gould was asked to explain it.
“Most people see the world through their phones today,” he replied.
Indeed, so for 2024, the goal is simple. See more with my own eyes and make fewer photographs and hopefully better ones.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: A photographer's New Year's resolution
