For Memories' Sake

Angela Singer is a small town woman who photographs everyday. For her it is just a hobby—she’s “just snapping photos” and doesn’t see herself as an artist or a photographer. In her mind, and I totally feel this way too, a photographer or an artist is a professional, someone with an education in the field. Maybe she doesn’t feel good enough or special enough. I’m trying to convince myself also that I can see myself as an artist, that I can find the self confidence to label myself a “photographer.” I think she is committed because she started something 35 years ago and it became a daily habit for her. She definitely has a touch of an obsessive disorder—she just has to do it or I think things would feel all wrong to her. Is she an artist or is she obsessive? Well, I guess she can be both. Many are. It might help to be a little obsessive in order to keep the discipline. A camera is part of her, it is as natural to her as any of her appendages and I’m sure it would be odd for any of her family or friends to see her without her camera. I really loved the photo montage comparing her photos to that of her granddaughters’ trip to France. That is a great idea—you can show the same type of scenes and the beauty that can be captured in a small radius around your home that are as interesting and beautiful as ones taken in an “exotic” locale. She never has the need to leave home in order to find subjects for her photos. Like she said, every day is a new day for her, full of promises for new pictures. Angela uses her camera as a tool to capture memories, everything that happens around her in her lifetime is documented. I am very much the same—constantly the picture taker during every event, although my commitment is not quite on her level. I am committed and I do take a lot, A LOT of photos, but the boxes and albums I have stacked up are nothing compared to hers (well, give me 20 years and we’ll see…) . I do take photos almost everyday. I like to document every little thing. For me too, they are my memories; I want to be able to look back and remember each moment. When I travel I take hundreds and hundreds of photos, I am the one at the birthdays, weddings, parties, etc. with my camera always out. Sometimes I have to remind myself to try and be “in the moment” instead trying to just document it. Once in a while the camera has to be put away. A lot of her photos may be labeled as “weird or freaky” and granted, yes, some may be. Who takes hundreds of photos of the TV or of things you get in the mail? I guess after three or four decades Angela may have run out of obvious subjects and started shooting whatever she came across…
Photography for Angela is a way for her to tell her life story and also a way for her to deal and cope with her own life. Angela has had a lot of emotional, tragic events in her life and I’m sure had to deal with so much hurt considering her alcoholic, abusive husband. By documenting those events in her life that have caused her pain—her son’s death, funeral, her husband’s sickness, gravesites, even their bodies in the open caskets, she is able to remove herself from the pain. She doesn’t have to see these events through her own eyes, but through the lens of her camera. She can turn off the emotions and remove herself; she is now the documenter instead of the woman who must be confronted by these events. Her photography is a wonderful form of escapism.
I think what makes Angela’s photographs important to me are that they are real. They are snapshots taken by a woman every day to either just give her something to do—a reason to be, or to help her deal with the pain in her life. They are an intimate look into the life of Angela Singer, a view through her eyes as to what she thought was important to capture in that very moment. But they aren’t all just family photos; there are some very artistic, beautiful photos, accidental maybe, but art nonetheless. I very much enjoy seeing other people’s family photos, I don’t know why, they just fascinate me. Seeing how other people live, what they looked like when they were young and all that which may seem boring to some really captivates me. Some of Angela's photographs are emotional, some are strange or exciting or joyous, some are maybe nothing special to the casual passerby’s eye, but I’m sure each has some kind of value to the photographer herself.