Using Questions as Comments
I probably comment on social media more than most people, although my comments are markedly fewer now than when I was very active on Instagram or on Facebook as an Admin and commenting was virtually a full-time job for me. So, it was with both interest and surprise when I came across a new way to comment on photos that are posted on social media, which is through the use of a question.
Now questions and I have a complex relationship. My childhood family set pretty significant boundaries. It was certainly not a child’s place to ask the whys and wherefores about really anything. I carried that training into adulthood. Like anything else, my disinclination to question in order to get various kinds of information has its good points and bad points. It is paired with my grandmother’s advice, “You don’t have to tell everything you know.” If you choose to disclose information, it will be safe with me. Also, I will not likely pump you for more information. On the other hand, I was never a popular sports mom, possibly because I never had gossip to share.
While I do not love asking questions, I do love being asked questions. That is a bit of a pandemic revelation, when not one but two friends corresponded regularly with me and generously asked questions and even more generously read the reams of things I had to say.
As I often have to observe in my blogs, you might be wondering what this has to do with street photography. For the last couple of months, I have been a member of “Close to Home, A Photo Salon,” which was organized and is run by NYC photographer, James Maher. In the salon, there are seven groups with about 24 members in each group. The idea is that we support each other’s photographic journey in street photography through interest in each other’s work, critique, and the sharing of information on the genre. I think this an old paradigm for artists. Friends who share an interest in photography band together for support, perhaps informally. It seems likely that some photography cooperatives provide this kind of group support opportunity. James was clever to see the need for small virtual support communities for photographers to form during the pandemic.
This is a commercial endeavor for James, who also runs photography workshops. He is constantly working to keep members of the group engaged. I am guessing it is a little like herding cats.
Last week, while I was on a Zoom call between two of the groups, Bresson and Leiter, James happened to mention that he thought asking questions could be a good way to start meaningful conversations with each other. I think he was working on a plan to roll this out, but once I figured out the potential for this, I was ready to press on. We shall frame that in a positive way as “my enthusiasm.” And so, I posted the picture above with the comment, “If you comment on this image, please make it a question.”
What a lovely set of questions I got that acted as conversation starters between people who responded to the post. Here are the questions and two of my responses
Fantastic idea Diane - my question is, do you feel this photo fits with the body of work that you are building, and if so, how so?
My question to you is, what prompted you to take this photo?
“Thanks for asking! My blog, that just posted this week, is about do-overs. In a broad sense this is a do-over. There is an intermittent “regular” who dresses in a leafy costume and then scares people who are walking by in our entertainment district. I have gotten many pictures of people who he has scared. This time there was a small crowd of people who were watching him. Each time he scared someone, they laughed. I did, too. Street photography that makes people smile has extra value to me. I think the natural response when you see people laugh is to smile. I hope people smile when they see this.”
The alignment on this is crazy good. How many pictures did you take to get this?
Does your mood when you are out affect the kind of moods you try to photograph?
My question for you is, do you consciously think about having a "tilt", like we see here? I feel that the slight diagonals add to the light hearted feeling, but wonder if that is by design or luck?
Are these people laughing about a shared experience?
My question is, how does this moment resonate with you, personally? Were you simply the observer, or did you feel a connection with something happening here?
“Thank you for asking. I do not know these people and I did not talk with them, but I rather proudly posted this photo, almost like a family photo, with the thought that “these are my people.” As I have mentioned they are laughing at our (Nashville Broadway) monster-regular scaring by-passers. I am laughing too, I am just not in the picture. The monster fellow is my friend. We are so glad to see each other when our paths cross. He is a retired elementary school from CA. Guess whose class had the most fun?”
I have to tell you, I felt so good about being asked those questions. I felt connected. I felt heard. My responses were relatively lengthy and about something I wanted to talk about.
On the Salon we are currently trying out the use of questions. I do not imagine they will take the place of other kinds of comments. I did notice that after interacting with members through comments, I felt a little bolder to tell a member that a photo she posted, which was a beautiful photo in its own right, perhaps was not the best fit for her project as it is developing. Of course, she gets to choose, but isn’t that the point of a Salon, to provide genuine feedback and community?
Certainly, I do not exactly see the application of the use of questions on Instagram and perhaps even more so on Facebook. Still, I am going to try to sneak them in from time to time.