Taking photographs ruins the memory

[Still Waters]

Taking a picture for posterity at a birthday, wedding or concert may harm our ability to remember the event fully, researchers believe in a phenomenon known as 'photo-taking impairment effect'

http://www.telegraph...arch-finds.html

[freetoroam]

Where do they come out with these ideas?

generally you look though a photo album years later and you recall the moment you had otherwise forgotten.

Dr Henkel and her team carried out an experiment in a museum, to learn if taking pictures of the exhibits was hindering the ability of visitors to remember what they had seen.

http://www.telegraph...arch-finds.html

This research has shown the effect on short term sighting of something, but when we take a photo it is to capture an event we are witnessing, not a single moment which we will miss because we have taken our camera out. This research is misleading.

[Euphorbia]

I disagree with this study to a degree as it seems to concentrate on casual shooters. I have been shooting pictures for 25 years or so, with 4 years of photography classes under my belt. In my early days, I shot primarily black and white film. Technical Pan was the greatest, finest grained film ever created.....my opinion on the greatest but it was the finest, sharpest film out there which I shot at ISO 25.

I also did a good portion of my shooting after the sun had set which required a tripod. My shots were also mainly landscapes and seascapes.

Setting up a view camera on a tripod at the beach forces you to really examine what you are shooting, framing it just right, and then after metering, and adjusting for reciprocity failure (which increased the length of exposure), I would start the exposure. Some of my shots lasted several minutes and during this time I really took in what I was shooting, and thought about how I would process the film and the print. I have some great memories of these photo shoots and the darkroom time needed for the final print. I can, in general, remember all of the shots, where they were taken, and have the satisfaction of a final print worth hanging on the wall.

Most of the youth of today have never even shot using film, let alone used a view camera or developed the negatives or prints. Sad really!

Camera phones and small point and shoot cameras are convenient, but yeah, some get caught up with snapping a picture and then immediately posting it on Facebook and then taking the next shot.....repeat etc.

I have to agree with freetoroam though......looking through old photo albums or at photos hanging on your wall floods the mind with memories that otherwise would fade with time.....

[Einsteinium]

I have to say there is nothing wrong with taking a few pictures, but I have known people who take so many pictures that it just becomes annoying. Instead of enjoying a vacation or museum for example, they will obsessively try to take pictures of everything. I wish they could just chill out and not worry about 'missing' some supposedly important event. Life happens in the moment, don't ruin the moment by worrying so much that you might not capture it on film.

[calaf]

I believe it's a matter of extremes. Being so moved by a scene that you need to have a photo and looking at the world through an ipad are opposite ends of the spectrum.