When I pull out my camera, I always ponder this question: Why am I taking this picture? If I know the point, then I can easily decide how to create the optimal angle to shoot it. If it's a valley, I need to pull back to demonstrate its magnificent breadth and length. If it's a flower, I may need to zoom in to focus on the pistil or perhaps zoom out a bit to show its place on a plant. If it's a group of people, try to figure out how to include everyone and whether you want them posing or a candid shot.

I guess a lot of people don't do that, which is why selfie culture exists. Today I went downtown with Ate Neneng to look at the Christmas decorations in the shops, and after the fortieth photo she asked me to take for her, I started wondering why we were doing this. After all every single one had her prominently displayed in front, and after each shot she would spend a few minutes flipping through and deciding which one she looked prettiest in. We literally walked all the way to Rockefeller Center to look at the tree. Who cares about you in this picture? It should be the fucking tree. That's why we came here. If you really are just interested in yourself, why not just get a professional photographer for a session and doll yourself up for it? That way it's not some shitty iPhone and the lighting would be perfect. Clearly the point for you is not the tree but rather yourself.

In a way it reminds me almost of stoners. Their stories always revolve around being high: "I went to the beach and got high" or "I was at the amusement park while I was high." Instead of experiencing life, they just look at it through the lens of drugs, which is what I feel about Ate Neneng or others like her and photography. After we took a picture of her in front of the tree, she immediately lost interest and wanted to walk to Saks so she could take a picture of herself in front of the windows. Or later when we were in Bryant Park, she spent the entire time flicking through the pictures of her in front of the ice rink there and not paying attention to the variety of interesting shops we were walking past. I don't mind people taking photos of wonderful things, but if the point of visiting these things is for you to stand in front of it and slap it on Facebook instead of pondering its beauty, then I think you're missing out.