In class last Monday, we argued that everyone can indeed be considered a documentarian thanks to technology, more specifically, the iPhone. This point was brought to my attention last year when I was in a class called World Pictures, taught by Professor Groo. We studied the archive and how people archive today, which links to documentary. There is a device called Memoto which brought upon the discussion about how people document their lives today. Memoto is a small camera you attach to yourself which takes a photo every 30 seconds to document your surroundings, and thus, your life. The catch is that you are never actually in any of the photos, which removes you from your own story even though you are the storyteller. This is how I imagine myself as a documentarian. When I document moments of my life, I like to do so without being present in the photo, video, etc. I like to memorialize moments with pictures of my surroundings—family, friends, pets, buildings—things that make the moment special to me. To me, documenting means reminiscence, as I am the kind of person that will scroll through my photos on my phone to get a good laugh and remember some funny times with the people I love.
