Snapshot

Occasionally, I find myself tumbling down the rabbit hole of Instagram.  The other day a short arial video of San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge came into my IG account.  Clearly proving that I look at other things besides AI enhanced models.  This video of San Francisco was stunning.  I had just returned from an extended trip to another beautiful part of the world – Italia.  In particular I was fortunate enough to spend a few days in Capri.  My visit happened to correspond to the G7 meeting on this tiny Italian island.  They were there not because of me, just coincidentally. 

Sadly, what I hear most about these two lovely places is far more negative than the places in person.  During my travels when I mention I am from San Francisco the response often was a question, asking if the situation is a bad as they have been told.  The vision of a drug induced sprawl of humanity in homeless encampments.  Given that vision you would think that San Francisco was a home buyer paradise with prices plummeting as people scrambled for the exits.  Interestingly enough, the actual situation is a city where you cannot buy homes because of demand and people are actually returning to the city.

In a similar fashion I would hear how Italia and places like Capri are being overrun by unwanted immigrants and tourists.  Certainly, immigrants are arriving and tourists are coming but the reality is a beautiful country, history on every corner, and welcoming people.

Somehow we need to figure out how to report news and descriptions in a manner that is not hyperbole or hysterical.  Somehow a balance between the reality that every country and city have problems and issues to solve.  However, underlying these places is a beauty that is beyond the hysterical nature of the reporting.  I suppose you might not read the article if it painted a picture that was a landscape rather than a horrifying snap shot. 

Sadly, there are homeless everywhere.  I was on the plaza of the Duomo in Milano.  The plaza had been blocked off from the usual throngs of people because of the G7 meetings.  The emptiness of the plaza exposed the pure grandeur of this magnificent Gothic, Renaissance structure without the usual mass of humanity.  Juxtaposed to this beautiful scene was a homeless man sleeping off to the side.  Clearly these two snap shots revealed two entirely different stories.

In a similar fashion the video overlooking the beautiful San Francisco Bay and a picture of a homeless man on Market street would tell a counter intuitive story.

For me it underscores the importance of knowing the complete story rather than the snapshot. Secondly and perhaps more importantly ----

I will always remember to be thankful that I am allowed to exist in a scene that would be the envy of most no matter how big or small the lens is that they are judging their lives or the lives of others.

Make sure your camera is fitted with a wide-angle lens…..