In a recent New York Times Article, I read about people who regularly (if not compulsively) take pictures of what they're going to eat before they eat it. One person interviewed in the article claims that this current trend speaks to our culture's obsession with food. I think it speaks even more to our culture's obsession with digital photography.
There is a huge appeal to photo-sharing online because it's free and fun and it does not require the time, effort or demand of writing blog posts. Many, many people photo-share images of food online. In fact, as the article states, the group "I Ate This" is one of the largest and most active groups on Flickr. I know my facebook friends constantly snap and post pictures of really great meals they're eating. The trend has become so big that major camera manufacturers are even making a special "food" or "cuisine" modes.
One man who photographed every thing he ate for one year stated, “The pictures, I realize now, are incredibly personal, and by looking at them you can probably deduce the type of person I am.” Moreover, the pictures set off memories and emotions in a way a written journal could not. “I remember every single day, who I was with, what I was feeling,” he said.
This reminded me of the discussion we had in class related to blindness and memory. Images help us remember events and can even activate our other senses. We look at a picture of something we ate, and suddenly we remember the smell and taste of something we could easily forget. And what we eat says a lot about who we are and what we value.
Much of the article reminded me of the text we read in class "A Life More Photographic" by Katrina Sluis. In the article Sluis discusses the brief history of digital images and how they're revolutionizing and democratizing photography. She claimed that since many people have cameras in their phones, that, "...even the most banal moments of the day can become a point of photographic reverie, potentially shared instantly."
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