embracing half-baked // June 2021
wrapping my head around writing, what i've been reading
I’ve been thinking about how, from a technical standpoint, it’s easier today to do most things than it ever has been before (something something “technology + democratization.”) The benefits of this accessibility are obvious, creating opportunities for more diverse representation in historically gatekept institutions and practices. Even in this exact moment, I am able to push out my thoughts onto to potentially millions of people on the internet.
But then why is it still so hard to write? There are several interconnected answers to this (information overload, decision paralysis, etc.), but I discovered a new one while reading The Social Photo: On Photography and Social Media by Nathan Jurgenson that I’m still wrapping my head around (ty Sean for letting me borrow his copy <3).
In essence, Jurgenson argues that while we’ve historically thought of photos as images that must be monumental and standalone, we need to unlearn this concept. The modern technical ease of creation allows us to think of pieces much more as contributions to a broader thread of communication, rather than "self-referential objects.”
“Those who gripe that we all take and post too many photos that are too banal and lack aesthetic distinctiveness are (knowingly are not) applying a critical logic from art history discourse that views images as formally artistic and documentary objects […] The photo object, which has so long been central to what ‘photography’ was thought to be, is today far less important. For social photography the object itself is less its own end (a beautiful photo for its own sake) and more the means (a signifying contribution to a stream of images).”
I’m not a photographer, but this resonated with me; my biggest obstacle while writing is the thought that my writing is largely “unworthy,” as it usually lacks a self-referential beginning, middle, and end. Maybe this is just an argument for accepting lower quality from myself, but it’s also challenged me to intentionally think of my writing as a means of communication rather than an object in itself.
The tl;dr here is that I’m going to try write more short, half-baked pieces, looking towards folks of inspiration like Austin Kleon, who does this beautifully.
what i’ve been reading
3 Idiots (2009) directed by Rajkumar Hirani
Inside (2021) directed by Bo Burnham
Ezra Klein: Welcome to the “Take This Job and Shove It” Economy
The Social Photo: On Photography and Social Media by Nathan Jurgenson