Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Pardon me appropriating the title of a very bad motion picture for a blog, but it really does express a great deal of the emotions involved in photography today.

Photography has always been faster than most other forms of visual expression - with the possible exception of Niepce's pewter plate, you could always make a photograph faster than you could paint the same scene. Also you could be faster than a sculptor doing a portrait in marble, even if you had to wait for the mercury in the darkroom to start boiling...

And it has gotten faster. Wet plate, dry plate, film, and digital all have sped up the photographer - and now the pressure is on to go even faster. Take a picture and send it to your computer and then send it on to the world on a social site. Measure your times in seconds and then shave those seconds down. Faster. Faster.

It's great to get fast relief if you are taking antacids and great to get a fast response if you are dialling the cops during a robbery, but do we need such an accretion of velocity when it comes to beauty? Are we rewarded better if our happiness hits us like a mallard A4 engine? I don't think so.

Think of the pictures that make you feel good - or the scenes that you see in real life. Think of the people who enrich you. Do you demand that they provide instant pleasure, fulfillment , or happiness? Chances are you give them a bit of time and you enjoy the process as it occurs.

Perhaps it is time to slow down plant a garden, and then smell the roses - and take pictures of them as well.