Dreams are for real

Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.
— Tupac Shakur

Little Switch Bitch recently commented on one of my pictures that I should write a bit about how I get certain compositions. So, go visit her page and drool over her sexy photos and when you come back, I'll talk about this one.

It's ok. I'll wait. 

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Yeah, she's hot AF with that ass, right? You should definitely follow her,

So anyway, back to this shot. It's a simple one and a set up that I automatically see because I love to shoot pictures where the light is behind me. It's why I have so many pictures in front of windows. For mechanics, I only use my iPhone. Long ago I had a regular camera but smartphone cameras got really good and I got tired of carrying another camera around. iPhone cameras have limitations, especially in low light, but this new iPhone Xs has a portrait mode that works better in limited light and also allows for some manipulation of f-stops. I'm still playing with it but it's definitely the best mode for dark pictures like this where the only light in the room was the fire behind me. I have several others from this set but I haven't decided whether to post them or not. Let's see how the week goes. 

As to this quote, I've recently started talking to a guy I like. He's a musician and we met via this alter ego of mine but he knows me in real life as well. I'm pretty sure he doesn't read this blog, but he would be welcome to if he wanted. This quote makes me think of him.

In other news I'm still staying off my AnnieSavoyWrites IG page for now and posting instead to my backup account, AnnieSavoyTakesPictures. Both accounts are private so if you want in, just request me. The interesting thing is that my AnniePicture page has a much smaller audience and initially the idea of posting to so few people was discouraging because I had definitely bought into the modern idea that the whole point of social media is to gain an audience and accumulate likes. But my giant realization of the week is: What if it isn't?

It certainly wasn't at the beginning. Social media was a way of connecting with people I knew or people with similar interests. The whole point was To Connect. But Connection is not what's happening now. I can scroll through IG for 5 minutes and "like" 20 pictures and only remember maybe 2 of them a half hour later. It's extremely low effort and thus low in meaning and lasting effect. And more to the point, most of the people clicking on my pictures on my original Annie page aren't people I know or follow, unlike my backup page where most are people I have a relationship with. When they comment or like, they do so with some context. There's a relationship there that feels like I'm sharing with friends.

It's changed my thinking. I've realized how much I had stopped sharing and instead was posting to simply accumulate likes, an exhausting unsatisfying process with no end in sight like a massive black hole of need. 

I watched a sports documentary recently called "In Search of Greatness" (it's fantastic. Go find it) and this comment feels like a brilliant encapsulation of the social media problem:

"If the ultimate outcome of professional sports is always just to be #1, no matter what you pay to get there, then you begin to wonder if the spiritual basis of these games is being hollowed out in the process of winning a game that people are losing interest in."

That. That. That. 

That is my food for thought this week.

I will go back to my original Annie IG page but I want to stay off of it long enough to remember why I do this, who I'm doing it for and find an appreciation for my audience.

Perhaps I'll also learn to be a more appreciative audience for other people.