After completing a photo project for one of my classes, I realized we, as people, tend to have a difficult time embracing the moment before us.
The objective of the project was to capture people with a uniting theme. I had walked past the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio a handful of times at this point, and I always noticed people getting distracted by the view in front of them by their phones. So I decided to photograph people missing the moment.
I worried at first that I would have difficulty capturing people who would remove themselves from their surroundings, but it was unbelievably easy. It was to a point where if I wanted to capture people embracing the moment, it would have been more difficult.
There were different types of people missing the moment. The first place I went to take photos was the Duomo where selfie sticks were everywhere.
I found it extremely difficult to wrap my head around how much time tourists spend with their backs turned to the Florence Cathedral. Getting a selfie with the large egg-shaped church sadly seemed to hold a higher level of importance to many travelers than to simply see the historical building.
When we, as tourists, decide to take a grand trip we save up all of our funds to see famous landscapes and monuments that are centuries old, but once we arrive the experience tends to fall to the back seat as we focus so much on getting a photo of what is in front of us that only our lens truly sees the beauty in front us and not our eyes.
Beyond our obsession with capturing a photo of a city and proving that we were there, we also can forget the gravity of what’s in front of us.
When I visited Park Guell in Barcelona, there was an incredible view that showed every crack of the city, but as I looked around, once the photo was taken, and a glance was given, it seemed as if people could only think of what’s next.
They were constantly moving forward and not thinking twice to give more time to the moment before them.
It’s not just tourists who are guilty of misusing the moment before them. Natives too can get caught up in the day-to-day routine that makes their surroundings mundane.
I remember in particular, a man standing by the Duomo with bags in his hands and his phone snugged in between his ear and his shoulder as he spoke to someone on the other end of the line. What stood behind him was the Duomo on a beautiful day.
I decided to finish the assignment by adding in the select photos of people who appeared to be taking in their moments before them to show that there is still hope in embracing what’s happening.
It takes talent to truly see what’s in front of you for what it really is. We are all guilty of letting our phones steal our gaze or treating a spectacular site to behold as something less than what it is because we’ve seen it more than once or twice.
The ability to see the art around us for what is, can simply be a matter of turning our phones off and looking up.
apoudrie@indiana.edu
