Rather than go out to dinner for my daughter Eleanor's 13th birthday, I planned us a mystery field trip. My crew really milked it, meaning we acted very weird and vague about where we were going, and what we would be doing. Best part was telling her "no skirts allowed" (skirt + slide = crotch shot). She just couldn't figure that one out.
The surprise location was OUE Skyspace (in the US Bank building downtown) to do the sky slide. The site boasts that it is California's tallest open-air observation deck, and did I mention THERE'S A SLIDE?!?! I thought the pricetag was a bit steep, but I found discount tix on www.Rush49.com. (If you want to see city views for free, there's always the Los Angeles City Hall Observation Deck, FYI).
I was pretty impressed by the interactive portion of things on the 57th floor, but the slide itself was LAME. Sure, you get to say you went down a slide made of glass that's hanging off the 70th floor of a skyscraper, but truth talk: it's super short, you move slowly, and in the end, it's really just all about getting the picture. I'm really struggling with this "photo as the main focus" thing lately. Previously unknown cities are becoming tourist destinations as a result of IG posts. I recently read that young people are now choosing their hotels based on best Insta backdrops, and there is a even new cruise line being designed specifically for millennials. I find it simultaneously gross and wonderful. I also happen to find change simultaneously horrible and amazing. Making things look cool, and the appreciation of those things can't be all bad... but then the social media insecurity questions flood my head:
Am I bragging? Am I just trying to prove that I am in the know, and that my life is awesome? Do other people even care? Is this all fake?
Can I appreciate a place without taking a picture of it? Is it enough to keep it to myself? Am I actually capturing a memory, or is the memory itself taking a picture?
These self-inflicted questions stress me out, so I'm callin' it. As a blogger, I need to get the eff over it, go with the flow, and embrace the photo craze, even if it feels icky sometimes.
It's exciting that smartphones have turned many of us into better or first-time photographers. The painted walls serving as backdrops for so many IG shots are changing the look of our cities, and exposing people to a new kind of art.
Every picture tells a story... even if that story is about waiting your turn to get the shot, or racing against the good light.
I like to think about vintage photo albums of the future. Someday the millennials will be showing their grandkids photo albums, in some format or another, and the pictures will be so wildly different than what we see now in old pictures.
And even though I sometimes feel conflicted about my photo chasing, it is something I share with my 13-year-old daughter. She went from refusing to have her picture taken, to being my muse. She went from resisting a trip to the museum, to asking if she could bring a friend. She keeps me up to speed on new filters and photo apps. It's nice. Real nice.
In the end, we loved seeing the helicopters flying by in the sky, some even lower than us. And our biggest laugh of the evening was giving Earl a hard time about his terrified expression on the lame slide. Super grateful for that gem of a shot, and the chance to revisit it anytime.
