Why It's Important To Share The Bad Photos Too

For me, 2014 has been the year of the Instagram. I've been obsessed with the damn thing, constantly seeing the world in squares of capturable detail, downloading editing app after editing app, and spending a full fifteen minutes editing every photo before posting. I can be ruthless, rejecting photos for not being well lit, or for an awkward facial expression, or a bad angle, or because someone really needs a haircut. But why?

Last week I got the chance to meet the gorgeous Fleur de Force, and at the end of the meeting, I got the chance to snap a quick photo with her. The photo? It was terrible. The lighting in the room was incredibly severe, turning the both of us yellow and shiny, and Fleur is so tiny and petite, I look like I ate a whole buffet next to her. I'm not big by any means, but next to someone so petite, I dwarf her. And I didn't want to post the photo. Even though, meeting Fleur was an amazing experience and I wanted to share that with my friends and followers, I didn't want to put the photo online.

But I did. Because life is not all about perfectly lit flat-lays of beauty products, or a perfectly manicured hand clutching a red Starbucks cup, or a perfectly edited selfie. Sometimes, life is about a grainy shot of a cosy night by the fire, or a glass of wine on a late Sunday evening, or a terrible selfie with someone you love. Life isn't perfectly lit and topped with a filter, so why should they be the only bits we share? 

Whilst I find it a little strange, I love this culture where we photograph everything. I like that when I look back in twenty years time, I'll get to see all the things I did and loved in such detail. Okay, so maybe it goes a little too far, like when I panic after I finish a meal and realise I forgot to photograph it, but I'm saving so many memories for the future. And I don't just want to remember the perfect moments.

So I encourage you all today to post a bad photo. Post a photo where you don't look your best, or where the lighting sucks, or where it just doesn't look all that great. If you felt the moment was important enough to capture it, then share it.