Pictures

May 10, 2005 1:02 PM - Ottawa
May 11, 2005 2:05 AM - Japan


What are pictures to you? A thousand words? Not unless I speak them.

I took quite a few pictures wile I was in Japan. People ask me to send them to them all the time, either because they are curious about what Japan looks like, or because they want to use them on their own websites.

I noticed the uneasiness I felt with this prospect for the first time when Lisa asked me for pictures to put in her journal when I was visiting her in Yokohama. I wasn't sure what to make of it at the time. I ended up giving her the pictures, but this was because she offered to give me credit for them on her site. Basically, I stopped feeling uncomfortable when it became clear they would still by mine despite where they were displayed.

I noticed it again today when Tanya was asking me for pictures. She wants to set up a photo section in her journal, and wanted to use some of the pictures I took of Japan. I gave her a few, and instantly felt bad about it.

I don't lose anything by giving away my pictures, they are just copies, I can view them whenever I want. It feels like giving away my memories though.

I remember quite clearly when/where/why I took every picture that I have of Japan. They aren't just pretty pictures to me, I can tell you a story about any one of them. To me they are the triggers for my own, very personal, memories.

Having people view them out of context feels awkward. It feels demeaning to my own memories to have them taken so impersonally by the world. I don't like to give away something special without being able to tell people why they are special.

Yes, it's a pretty temple to you. To me it's the place I spent a couple hours with Jen on a really beautiful Monday afternoon talking about Japanese language and religion. It's the place where we bought our first Omikuji, Japanese fortunes that we later spent a couple hours feverishly translating to learn our destinies and laughing at the results.

One of these days I'll get a site up with most of my pictures, but it will include the stories behind the pictures, and I will put some kind of watermark on the pictures themselves.

I'm sure you'd like to see pictures of Japan, and I'd love to show them to you, but I won't give them to anyone anymore. If you want to see the picture, you get the thousand words that goes with it.