It was the probably the greatest and most intensive collective documentation effort I have ever witnessed. There was barely a person on the Paris tourist boat cruise up la Seine that wasn’t constantly recording every single moment on their smartphones. (some having more than one device). When they weren’t taking photos of every single thing they saw they were reviewing or posting their shots in real time. It was relentless. And even though they were predominantly Asian, this wasn’t about one culture’s relationship with technology, it was merely an intense example of this era’s dedication to documentation.
So what did I do whilst they were shooting the shit out of everything? I shot the shit out of them. (I think that would be difficult to say out loud without developing a lisp) And, obvs, I was fully aware that here I was, excessively documenting the documenters and both myself and my unwitting subjects kinda missed most of the boat trip as a result. Oh, the joyful irony.
Studies have shown that if you take a photograph of something you are way less likely to remember it as the brain assumes that the job of storing it is being covered so consequently doesn’t bother. And bear in mind, apart from their fleeting moment of existence on Instagram or whatever social media platform they might be uploaded to, they will barely ever be looked at again. So we will all go to our graves with hardly any memories because our brains have passed on that responsibility to our tech and the likelihood of that surviving is slim. So maybe we should ditch the devices and start looking around a bit more otherwise we will have nothing to look back on…
A word about Paris: I used to think it was a bit too posh and pretty and a bit too quiet in the centre but as all cities eventually went that way I have developed a greater appreciation of this city. And as it’s starting to get stuck in an era it really feels like you have gone back in time . The Woody Allen movie ‘Midnight in Paris’ captured this feeling beautifully and so, as we sauntered around on cobbled streets in the greyness and the cold and the mist, it all served to evoke an atmosphere of yesteryear and felt like we had been planted in a period film. There was also a classic car rally when we were there so there were all these vintage motors cruising around (see gallery below) which only added to this overlapping of the past over the present I was experiencing…
To see a gallery of other photographs from Paris other than the ones you have looked at this week please click here