Life through a Lens
We live our lives almost consistently through a lens these days, whether it’s on FaceTime, Instagram, Insta Stories, Snapchat, YouTube or plain old fashioned TV we are constantly interacting with screens and mobile devices. But what’s new to this camera game is the self-gaze. And I don’t mean just the odd self-portrait here and there I mean daily images and videos of ourselves, our thoughts, our daily lives and our reflections.
I come from a camera-mad family started by my Grandad Bertie (pictured above) who passed on his love of taking photos to my Dad and then to me and my brothers. The picture above was sent to me by my relation on the week of my brother’s wedding in November. It was sent to show me how my Grandad was known at family dos as the man who captured the moment. And there he is with not one but two cameras hanging around his neck!
It made me think of how our hunger to catch the moment on camera is not new but the continuous selfies and videos broadcast to a big audience of people we don’t know is very new. Grandad’s photos had a small reach, he added his photos to albums or left them in the chemist shop’s envelop to be passed about at family gatherings.
And here we are in 2018 with a camera in our back pocket ready to snap everything that we could possibly want to share and more. We can edit, filter, highlight, layer, emoji and add little quotes, thoughts, text and messages to our photos and videos. This blog and my Instagram is my space to snap and share my fashion-y reflections, Dublin and it’s remarkable history, personal moments and stylish goings on. So here’s to the New Year and all the snappable moments to come. I hope you’ll join me for more fashion history stories captured through a rose-tinted lens or two right here. I have a feeling this year is going to be a great one – I hope it is for you too. And you know what they say:
“Life is like a camera, focus on what’s important, capture the good times, develop from the negatives and if things don’t work out, take another shot.”
