A Thousand Pictures For A Million Words Analysis

In “A Thousand Pictures for a Million Words,” an essay by Lash Keith Vance, the author discusses that people do not enjoy the feeling of being mentally attached to an event because they always feel the need to capture a picture of the moment. Once people begin to start using their devices, they get distracted, and the distraction interrupts the flow of the event. He says that people do not only believe in capturing the moment, but also need to have the “best” picture. Besides having to do many things to get the perfect picture, amateur photographers spend the majority of the time on their electronic devices. People only take pictures because their camera is readily available, and they do not have to pay for each and every photograph taken.
Vance claims that he believes that cameras create an unnatural sense of being able to express the truth between a picture and a real-life event. People seem to find the artificial barrier more interesting because they are able to go back to it anytime they want. In his essay, Vance suggests that “instead of living the moment, the person moves from being a participant to an observer” (Vance 407). Vance argues that people do not fully participate in the event since they are not able to fully enjoy it. Considering how people are not participating, they become observers because they view it almost as a secondary source. For instance, when I went with my cousin to see Gerardo Ortiz, we were both enjoying the show until we saw plenty of people around us with their phones. My cousin and I were focused listing to the music and sharing the same feeling of being in tuned with one another, while other people were too “busy fiddling with their cell phones, taking pictures, and maneuvering for selfies” (Vance 407). It was not until I turned around because someone's camera light was flashing in my eyes did I see all the people holding their phones recording and taking pictures, documenting this very moment. Since we saw the majority of people doing it, we ended up taking out our phones and began to take pictures and videos to prove to ourselves and others that we were having a good time at
People rely on their electronics to save every memory that has ever been documented. “In our desire for the perfect moment, the best shot, the need to preserve or share the moment, we end up losing more than we gain” (Vance 410). People try so hard to show the perfect moment to others, yet people themselves do not understand how cultural obsession effects the photographs taken in certain events and activities. People lose more because they are focused more on taking the picture rather than enjoying the