Kodak Moments

KODAK MOMENTS by Clarisse P. M.

It’s everywhere. Photos have evolved from Sepia or B&W cold stares of people in top hats and gowns to wacky motion shots of people hanging up-side-down from monkey bars. A guy sprawled on the hood of a cobalt blue Mercedes. A 30-ish woman showing off a milk moustache. Marilyn Monroe reincarnated. A girl cheek-to-cheek with a Heineken bottle. 1001 versions of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. We see them on Friendster, MySpace, Face Book, hi5, Xanga, 360, etc. even on Shutterfly, Winkflash, and I wouldn’t be surprised if The Yellow Pages and Missing Person websites get invaded as well.  Things have changed with the advent of digital cameras and camera phones. We have re-invented the traditional photo shoot. We take pictures of ourselves, by ourselves.  We now say “Pang-friendster! Pang-email! Smile!” (“For Friendster! For emails…”) in lieu of “Picture, picture! Smile! ” Here’s something I can't help but write about during my coffee breaks at work, 15 minutes at a time.  For your reading pleasure...

The BASIC SOLO

This is a basic self-portrait taken by the left hand of the subject (or the right, whichever is longer), stretched out in advanced yoga proportions that if lucky enough, would show a little bit of background, more often than not tilted at a 45 degree angle. And if it happens to be a face-imitating-a-plate case as mine is, then no bit of background is left, and sometimes the face is cropped at, luckily, some occasionally aesthetically sound perimeters.

The GROUP PICTURE

This is similar to the basic self-portrait except that there is more than one person in the frame, squeezed anchovies-in-a-flat-can style.  It could be boyfriend-girlfriend, hubby-wifey (as our case), a family picture, or the entire party pack.  This is taken by one of the subjects (with the longest arm, I suppose) and whose face might unfortunately end up halfway out of the frame -- you’ll recognize him with the bangs and one eye peeping in from one of the corners.  It looks good taken from up high, but from below, chances are, it would be a shocking expose of double chins (why am I often a victim of this?!?)  And oh, it is futile to attempt to capture a group moment and a picturesque background together, lest you want to have a picture by the beach which could have conveniently been taken at anyone’s backyard.

The SOLO redefined

I’m not sure which one needs to be mentioned first.  There is a plethora of potential here:

The Super Model Pout – You see people doing their own rendition of Angelina Jolie trying to see if she has a fly sitting on the tip of her lip pose --or if you’re a Filipino like me, you’re probably just pointing at something ober der (over there). Truthfully, it makes one look cute, it adds appeal, and plus, it’s a free-do-as-you-please world, but please don’t attempt it if you’re only 12 years old or 80, or something. Disclaimer: I don’t mean to hurt anyone with this, as I’m guilty of it myself at some point in my life and would certainly still try to pull a good one off if the situation calls for it.

The Pensive Look – On this one, we see people looking away from the camera, pretending a candid shot if only the outstretched arm holding the camera doesn’t give it away by materializing on either the lower left or the lower right corner of the frame. The subcategories for this one includes The Thinker (looking up), The Saint or The Holy One (looking down), The Demure (looking down with a small smile) and Paris Hilton (looking left or right).

The Mad Stare – The subject looks at the camera directly in the eye, or away, with the two eyebrows gravitating to each other in unibrow fashion, the nose wrinkling inward pulling the rest of the facial parts toward the center like a prune. (I guess, this is better called “The Constipated…” don’t you think?)

Seduction – a popular one is the Open-mouthed Smile with only a small view of the tongue curled up inside (risk: mosquitoes and bugs might get sucked into the mouth while doing this);  another hot one is the Wet Look, which is self-explanatory.  The hottest one, I believe, is the Tongue-sticking-out-on-one-side smile, which if not executed properly might make one accidentally drool, or look like one of those comic strip characters in Buhay Pilipino by Mars Ravelo. (I was digging my nose into Liwayway magazine as soon as I learned how to read)

Funny Face- This is when someone attempts to put on his original goofy and horrifically funny face, or sometimes, one doesn’t even need to try at all.

Body Parts- Because we are not content with just showing our faces, and gone are those days when we need another person to actually take the picture, we are now in the era where we can be magazine covers (or centerfolds) in a photo shoot that we can plot ourselves within the safe confines of our room – or bathroom. We see pictures of legs, arms, fingers (don't forget the PEACE sign), backs and other behinds, necks, napes, tattoos, foreheads, feet, armpits (really?) and yes, the most often shot area: cleavages (hills or prairies, it doesn’t seem to matter), and cleavages, and screaming CLEAVAGES plus a few other “landscapes” in the dark that we can’t even decipher or make anything out of.

The Views - In connection with the above, there is the popular aerial view where you can see the top of one’s head, or faces of people laying down on the grass, sand, snow, bed, or maybe even kitchen countertops; the side view/profile, the 90 degree angle, the up-side-down, the tilt (which is my favorite, by the way), the back view, the underwater shot, or other shots taken from only heaven knows where.

The Mirror Image- If all else fails, we see people resorting to mirror-aided shoots, including of course the reflection of no other than the handheld camera or camera phone itself, aimed a little below shoulder level like you discreetly would a 45.

My favorites for myself are the windblown look (guilty!), the cocktail-in-one-hand-let’s-drink-to-that pose (super guilty!), and recently, I have embarked into the Hat fever.  In a nutshell, we’ll find a million different expressions of human creativity with that little digital box. I have only touched the tip of the iceberg.

But seriously now, why do we do such things? Why do we take pictures? Have we really been simply “myspaced” or “friendsterized”?

There must be a deeper reason why.  In one of my many great conversations with my friend (Hi Ali!), we talked about what Susan Sarandon said in the movie “Shall we Dance?” about getting married “that you can co-exist and build a life and have a witness to your life.” Maybe this is how it is. We are built to share our lives as stage actors in a play would.  It is not confined only to the spouse, but it can be the best friend, the family, a group of friends, co-workers, parents and acquaintances.  All of us are closet celebrities who appreciate being seen, and are happy to share most parts of us to the audience world outside. They are the witnesses.  The pictures…evidences.

I used to take a lot of pictures when hubby and I were apart, so he could see each thing I did and witness each happy moment I had in the Philippines . I took pictures to preserve memories with my friends back home, and mainly for me to look back to when I start missing them.  Now that I am with hubby, we take pictures together to preserve the moment, for posterity and hopefully to help us with our memories when we start forgetting our own names.

Above all else, I am in this phase where I am taking pictures for my parents back home. Not to sound righteous or anything but I do take time out to even compose my shots just for them.  Maybe to compensate for not being there anytime they need me? This possible reason and realization just about pierced my heart.  What I know for sure is that I sincerely want them to see, and feel (if possible) from thousands of miles away each thing that I experience, everything that I see, wherever I go. Right now, I have a 4-inch thick bunch of prints waiting to be shipped back home, duly labeled and numbered, which my mom and dad would faithfully slip into stacks and stacks of photo albums to show family and friends. It’s so much better than email but certainly will never ever make up for not being there physically.

Friendster or MySpace, of course, come after the fact but I always look forward to posting pictures online and showing my friends what I have been up to. It’s a delightful feeling which I believe all of us share. After all, we are all beautiful miracles waiting to be witnessed.

Who do you take your pictures for?

~~~Clarisse aka Teacher C  8-28-07