Today was not my day.
Started with waking up late, being late to the doctors office, finding that appointments WERE really needed, getting into an accident with a deaf lady, who decided that she didn't want to stay, chasing her for a few miles to catch up, getting a stinky rental car, going to the gym to find that its closed, and ending with my food being missing on the delivery order. I'm waiting for the clock to reach midnight.
My friend Ilan had once mentioned that he didn't care much for landscapes, because they can get cliched and boring - I can see how that could be - in fact, while I was taking the picture above in Sheffield, England, somebody asked (in a mocking tone) exactly what I found about landscapes interesting. I thought about it and I realized that personally for me, I just like being part of beautiful landscapes. Being there is enough, to be able to capture it no matter how many have done it before me, is an enjoyable experience. Bringing the image home completes that experience.
It got me thinking about media genres in general. It seems certain genres in photography (and movies, etc) tend to gain more attention than others. These genres are more on the serious side, showing problems and areas where we have work to do. Its probably why comedies have never won Oscars, and photographs about impoverished third world countries seem to win all the awards. I understand it to some extent; my personal favourite genre of photography is documentary photography, and ideally, I would like to use it to make people aware of things they should be aware of. Unfortunately, these things don't include comedies (in movies) and landscapes (in photography). Another one of my personal photography related philosphy is that photography should evoke emotions. So, then does that emotion always need to be the one of drama? Why is it that we are not equally moved by a funny picture as opposed to a serious one? Drama vs comedy - do they evoke equally extreme emotions? If so, why do media with only dramatic subjects win all the accolades? What do you think?