[Dani]

I don’t know how much of what the pictures end up looking like has to do with race, but I think at least some of it has to do with who is taking the pictures or what you consider the focal point. I’m not Japanese and I’ve asked people (or they’ve just offered) to take my picture a few times while on vacation. For me, my friends and family and I are the focal point as much as what we are standing in front of. My main motivation for posting pictures on the internet is to share them with friends and family. If I have a limited amount of space, I will probably put up the pictures that contain people first. They are more personal. I’ve noticed that most of the responses that I’ve read have focused on the meaning of the people being in the pictures (after all that WAS the question). I found it interesting that my first thought was ‘why are the pictures all the SAME?’ I think my opinion may offer some insight. If you are average and someone hands you a camera and asks you to take their picture, you are probably going to do your best to center the people and the attraction in the viewfinder, press the button, and hand the camera back. I went to school for photography, and most, if not all, of the freshman started out taking picures this way. One of the things that my professors definitely got accross to me is that these snapshots, while they may not be ‘art’, serve an important purpose. They capture a memory. Like you, I’ve also had people approach me on the street and ask me to take their picture. Usually I’ll ask them if I can take two. Most people have been okay with it. The first one is what they are expecting. The people are front and center, standing in front of the attraction. For the second picture, the people are in it, but I try to emphasize what you are calling the focal point as the subject of the picture. I don’t know if people actually like these second pictures but I hope so.

User Detail :  

Name : Dani, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 27, City : Boise, State : ID, Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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