Recently, photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing – which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as art. It is mainly a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and a tool of power.
~ Susan Sontag, “On Photography,” 1977
Of late I have seldom been in a social situation – even yoga and meditation classes! – that was immune from being captured for all to see throughout the universe in perpetuity via Facebook and Instagram.
Way back in the previous century, I recall shooting – somewhat noisily – photographs on 35mm celluloid film. Thirty or forty centimes per photo after developing added up quickly and made me think twice before clicking. But now a 64 gig IPhone 6 can hold 3,000 photos so it literally costs nothing to snap indiscriminately.
But what are we doing when we turn social gatherings into photo opportunities? (cf. Baudrillard’s “Simulacra and Simulation”)
I do not partake in Instagram but it feels as if most of my peers on Facebook are on some relentless quest for social status.
I have fantasized about creating an app that scores people’s social statuses by the photos they post on Facebook and Instagram. It would work something like this:
*Photo of you eating in a nice restaurant: 5 points
*Photo of you with gorgeous friends having a good time in a nice restaurant: 10 points
*Photo of you with someone famous eating in a nice restaurant: 15 points
*Photo of you with someone really really rich eating in a nice restaurant: 20 points
*Photo of you in an exotic location: 25 points (double points for war zones, outer space, and the Governor’s Ball or Vanity Fair party after the Academy Awards)
*Photo of you with gorgeous friends in an exotic location: 30 points (double points for war zones, outer space, and the Governor’s Ball or Vanity Fair party after the Academy Awards)
*Photo of you with someone famous in an exotic location: 35 points (double points for war zones, outer space, and the Governor’s Ball or Vanity Fair party after the Academy Awards)
*Photo of you with someone really really rich in an exotic location: 40 points (double points for war zones, outer space, and the Governor’s Ball or Vanity Fair party after the Academy Awards)
Of course the definitions of “nice restaurant” “exotic location” “gorgeous friends” “famous” and “really rich” are relative to myriad factors; thus there would be several levels of “nice” “exotic” “gorgeous” “famous” and “rich” and each would be scored accordingly.
During the night all of your social media from the previous day would be analyzed and scored and you would know exactly where you stand in comparison with your fellow human beings when you woke up the next morning.
Sounds like fun – doesn’t it?!
Wait… is this not exactly what we are all doing in some way???
90% of the time I am approached at a speaking engagement people start talking about something they have seen in my utterly fabulous and apparently glamorous virtual life – “Oh I saw you were in Paris!” “Oh I saw you were with Deepak Chopra!” – which represents exactly 1% of the life that I, Ira Israel, actually lead. There are no photos of me treating patients or sitting alone in my underwear behind an electronic device preparing for my next Esalen workshop (occasionally taking breaks to discuss Baudrillard and Žižek with my cat Hélène); there is only the end result of fifty radiating people whose nourished bodies and souls beam at you from my glorious Facebook page.
And since when did doctors, lawyers, psychotherapists – hell, everyone – need headshots? I thought headshots were things celebrities signed with Sharpies at Comic-Con, not for professionals like me.
