The same photograph is ontologically impossible. But it is enough to spend a few minutes on Instagram, Flickr or Tumblr to see that a similar photograph is not only possible but is in fact quite frequent.
Been There, Done That
It is not possible to take the same photograph ever again, in the lapse between the shutter curtains’ opening and closing what is in front of the lens gets frozen forever in the unique configuration it borne in that moment. Moreover, the very act of taking the picture becomes a part of world’s unique configuration in that moment. The same photograph is ontologically impossible. But it is enough to spend a few minutes on Instagram, Flickr or Tumblr to see that a similar photograph is not only possible but is in fact quite frequent. I am not talking about recurring motifs or copied poses (however vast, human experience is also repetitive); I am talking about the same object photographed from slightly different angles, in slightly different weather, and with slightly different equipment. I am talking about famous and acclaimed architectural objects—probably the most photographed things after cats, babies, and sunsets. The reason for their photographic reputation is not hard to guess—it is tourism, in particular, people’s desire to let others know: I was there. The Eiffel Tower—I was in Paris; Brooklyn Bridge—I was in New York; Red Square—Moscow; Burj Khalifa—Dubai, and so on and so forth. The whole trip gets inscribed into and equated with a usually oddly composed yet always familiar photograph. Why these objects and not others? That is a question to ask. Is it indeed because it is impossible not to acknowledge and admire Eiffel Tower’s majesty, or rather the landmarks that need to be photograhed owe their fame to social contracts? Whatever the answer might be, the fact is, before you pull your point and shoot or phone out, somebody has already taken a better, higher quality, sans-people-in-the-background picture of the same object. It is not only the age of simulacrum where the image is as valid as the experience that we live in, we are also living in an era where an experience unaccompanied and unexplained by a text does not count; if you cannot tell or show it, it did not happen. But we want our experiences to matter, we want to share our experiences, and receive acclaim for them—the snapping must go on.
All images found on Tumblr. Made as a response to an assignment in Allyson Paty’s ‘Writing for Confluence’ tutorial (spring 2016).