Graduation last week was like a reunion – many old friends/alumni gathered to celebrate the graduating class. The small university groups allows people to get to know each other, to work together on projects, to live together as a community no matter what their graduation year, or major. And this is what I think Ken Robinson meant when he said that our educational system is misguided thinking that the only common thing people have is their date of manufacture. And when I saw the three of them again, I remember the great photo session we did just about a year ago – three friends, a match. The photo session started casual – I was there, they could see me, they knew what it was all about, they knew I’ll be taking pictures. Little by little, it seemed as if they were no longer seeing me as another person (a consciousness) but as a simple the button that pushed the button of the camera when they felt ready – when they initiated it.
A photographer often tries to become invisible – to capture the decisive moments without any literal or social filters. That invisibility allows for the ultimate connection between the viewer of the photograph and the subjects of the photograph because there is no real boundary between them – they are two separate worlds but the subject is not aware of the other’s. And yet here, Lea, Linda and Jacob played with each other in front of the camera and wanted me to take their picture. And the reason was simple – they were taking the pictures for themselves. They were posing for themselves, for each other; they were playing with themselves, they wanted to have a memory of those moments with each other for themselves. For me as the photographer, this was beautiful – with all of its narcissism.
