I know some purists believe that only a technically correct photograph has value and that blurry photographs are immediately to be trashed. Well, you may not know this about me (ha!) but I’m not a purist. I’m not tied to any one idea of what’s good or bad, and moreso, I have this thing with blurry photos… I often like them. Like, really like them.
Some of it is definitely about my people-pleasing tendencies… this idea I learned as a child that bending over backwards to do what people want makes it less likely that they’ll hurt you. In that instant at least. It was a survival mechanism and it’s worked so far. Although that’s not to say I still do it. Or that I don’t. Ha!
I guess I sort of apply it to the photo – I don’t want to hurt its feelings. Because yes, didn’t you know? Photographs have feelings.
Some of it is about not wanting to commit by saying a definite no to anyone or anything.
But a lot of it is actually that I just like them. I like that they’re not clear, not obvious, not sharp… that the edges bleed together and things merge, that you can’t always tell what you’re looking at or what’s happening. I like the feeling they sometimes convey – the mystery or the obvious thing that can’t be hidden or glossed over even by a lack of focus.
I just, have this thing with blurry photos.
hapa, nyumbani 