...taking a photo undermines your memory
Aug 29, 2018 11:11:06 #
We get magazine called Bottom Line. What do you think about the small article...taking a photo undermines your memory ? My wife suggested I take too many photos.
Aug 29, 2018 11:14:18 #
kjfishman wrote:
We get magazine called Bottom Line. What do you think about the small article...taking a photo undermines your memory ? My wife suggested I take too many photos.
Anything can decrease your memory of a scene - a loud noise, a visual distraction, etc. I'd rather be able to look at pictures from the past than try to remember details from decades ago.
Sometimes, research is technically true, but intellectually worthless.
Aug 29, 2018 11:22:31 #
Aug 29, 2018 11:24:51 #
Rubbish. The very act of recognizing the scene or the object and focusing on recording it, imprints the memory in your brain. I not only recall the scenes clearly, I can remember the various efforts I put into photographing it like how I climbed that hill, got wet in the surf, waited forever for the animal to look at me, how I raced to the scene so I wouldn't miss the sunrise or sunset light. I remember the scenes and objects vividly because
I was intensely engaged. I also have the added bonus of a photographic record of it to enjoy repeatedly for all time and to share the moment with others.
I was intensely engaged. I also have the added bonus of a photographic record of it to enjoy repeatedly for all time and to share the moment with others.
kjfishman wrote:
We get magazine called Bottom Line. What do you think about the small article...taking a photo undermines your memory ? My wife suggested I take too many photos.
Aug 29, 2018 11:28:06 #
For a quick snapshot, that may be true. If you study the scene and look for the most memorable angle and get that perfect photo that truly captures the moment and people or activities then I would think you have enhanced your enjoyment of the time and details will be more clear when looking back years from now. How many times have you been looking through old photos and an elderly person recognizes someone they had completely forgotten. They may have taken the photo and it all comes back.
Aug 29, 2018 11:29:40 #
lsupremo
Loc: Palm Desert, CA
Yes, it does undermine your memory if all you do is snap your shutter, but as Ansel Adams told us during a session “if you can’t make it bigger or more important, don’t press the button and just remember forever it as it was”.
Aug 29, 2018 11:32:49 #
In some cases maybe it does. However, for many people, the photo brings back memories that would otherwise have been forgotten. My dad took a lot of photos and super 8 movies. These helped me recall things from my youth I have forgotten. One photo can bring back a flood of memories from an event, person or place.
Aug 29, 2018 11:34:40 #
What a bunch of poppycock. Apparently some article writers need to stretch the boundaries of reality in order to get published.
Aug 29, 2018 11:37:09 #
Agree with the premise regarding quick shots by those who don't take a lot of photos, such as when on vacation as part of a guided tour. Live the moment, buy postcards 
But I think it would apply more to video (longer period of time with camera to face): a wedding reception, child's recital, play, sports event, trying to keep in focus and minimize motion...would viewing that recording in five years equal the joy of being immersed in the live moment?
But I think it would apply more to video (longer period of time with camera to face): a wedding reception, child's recital, play, sports event, trying to keep in focus and minimize motion...would viewing that recording in five years equal the joy of being immersed in the live moment?
Aug 29, 2018 11:41:53 #
I believe it depends n on the goal or purpose of the photographer. Are you there to photograph the event, or to be a participant in it. Example, a grand child's birthday party. are you the grandparent or the journalist? I have difficulty being both.
Aug 29, 2018 11:46:44 #
I don't see how it would undermine my memory. The real scene is never the same as the photograph. I often enjoy the real scene and not taking pictures because I think I can't capture what's there. Other times I saw a nice photo looking at an uninteresting scene.
Aug 29, 2018 11:47:41 #
ppage wrote:
Rubbish. The very act of recognizing the scene or... (show quote)
I am in total agreement with your response; in addition, in my sleep, the images I have photographed come to me-one following the other: as one fades out another image appears. Sometimes I am able to see images of a give local, in depth, that I observed on a given block that I did not photograph! I'd say my ability to retain images and detail has been increased through photography. It has sharpened my memory!
Aug 29, 2018 11:58:01 #
kjfishman wrote:
We get magazine called Bottom Line. What do you think about the small article...taking a photo undermines your memory ? My wife suggested I take too many photos.
Rubbish.
The photographs can jog your memory helping recreate memories,"undermining" their assertion.
Example; recently I came across a snap shot of a remote barn and "mill" that I took back in '89. Not only did I remember the image I remembered almost exactly where it was taken. The image woke my memory, the facts were there not lost because I used a camera.
Oh, I verified what my memory told me by finding the spot on Google maps, street view.
Aug 29, 2018 12:26:15 #
It’s unfortunate that we don’t have the full citation to the research article; this sounds intriguing. Without seeing the full research paper we’re not in a position to draw any conclusions from this very short snippet. Without info about defined terms, design and methodology, this little blurb is pretty useless.
Aug 29, 2018 12:30:45 #
Photographer Jim wrote:
Mr Google knows all:It’s unfortunate that we don’t have the full citation to the research article; this sounds intriguing. Without seeing the full research paper we’re not in a position to draw any conclusions from this very short snippet. Without info about defined terms, design and methodology, this little blurb is pretty useless.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368117301687#!
Others that may be referencing the same study; I didn't read closely:
https://www.iflscience.com/brain/taking-photographs-does-something-extremely-weird-to-your-memory-and-no-one-knows-why/
https://www.cheatsheet.com/gear-style/reasons-psychologists-warn-not-to-take-so-many-photos.html/
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