#Photography

Street photography is the art of cutting out snippets of strangers’ lives under the guise of art, then decorating one’s portfolio with them. The shutter click rings like a bell for one’s own ego, proclaiming "I am here and watching society." The photographer treats passersby as silent models and prowls the urban stage to satisfy a hunger for approval. Ultimately, only the moment one bathes in social media praise justifies this little hunt—a mirrored truth reflecting our appetite for fleeting recognition.

A time-lapse is a visual trick that pretends to liberate viewers from life's tedium by fast-forwarding everything. Yet behind the dizzying montage lies the laborious toil of piling up countless frames and editing pored-over minutiae. It emphasizes the vanity of marveling at fleeting instants, at the price of burying the slow grind of reality.

Travel photos are visual confessions shot to flaunt oneself against postcard-like backdrops, seeking salvation in the 'likes' of social media. In essence, they are mere performances to buy envy, while the pretense of sharing memories is nothing more than a pose. Often, the photographer prioritizes their own face over exotic scenery, and the click of the shutter carries the heat of self-display. These framed moments quietly tell a fiction of aesthetics rather than the reality of experience.

Underwater photography is the art of stirring human vanity into sea sludge, battling the natural malice of pressure and murkiness. Seeking colors and vitality unattainable on land, only to receive mounds of half-buried pixels and corroded gear as souvenirs. Boasting beauty trapped in bubbles on SNS, while fish remember it as nothing more than a nuisance.

White balance is the magical incantation that allows photographers to avert their eyes from the truth of color. It segregates those who obsess over light temperature as "experts" and those who do not as "careless", underpinning a convenient binary. A universal filter that swaps warm tones for cool or vice versa to suit one's mood. Yet it is also a nihilistic ritual of ceaselessly seeking the elusive "correct white".

Wildlife photography is the art of chasing untamed subjects like birds and lions, commodifying nature with the bait of social media "likes." It prioritizes camera specs and the photographer’s ego over the animal’s freedom. The photographer, selfie-stick in hand, cloaks harassment as curiosity, disregarding the subject’s comfort. In the end, only a fading echo of true wilderness and one viral image remain.