Monday 8 October 2012

"I'll Be Your Mirror"

So today I watched Nan Goldin's documentary, "I'll Be Your Mirror", about the stories behind her work and what was going on in her life when these images were taken. I found it so inspiring how she had photographed so much of her life and the people that came in out of it. It's strange, because I'd seen a lot of Nan Goldin's images before, but had never really bothered to look at the story behind the pictures, who they were of, where they were, why they were taken, and I'm so glad to have looked through the documentary.

Although I was watching the documentary as research for my current project on the subject of "Memory" and "Narrative", I found that it really inspired me as a photographer. The idea of photographing most of your life is something that I feel I should and want to do. I want to be able to look back at my pictures and remember good and bad times, and the people that I meet throughout my life. Although I always carry a camera with me, I don't necessarily take enough pictures and sometimes miss out on moments that I will never be able to capture again. I've realised that many people of my generation don't really think about what they can look back on in say 40 years time, as many of us don't take pictures like our parents used too, and I don't think we document enough of our lives. Maybe it's just me, but I think that we take our memories for granted, and don't realise that what we can remember now as something important, may have completely disappeared from our minds in 40 years. So now, it seems, my life as a photographer has taken a strong and sudden influence from Nan Goldin's outlook, let's hope it all goes well!

Here's the first part of the documentary, I really recommend watching it!