So an Italian photographer, Gabriele Galimberti, did a project, Toy stories, in which he compiled photos of children from around the world with their prized possessions, their toys. He travelled around the globe to get these pictures. Have a look at these amazing pictures. I love the way he has placed kids and neatly organized the toys around them.
Looking at these wonderful pictures, I had two interesting train of thoughts.
First, being a photographer (amateur), was how differently I would have taken these pictures. I hate people, especially kids, posing for my pictures. I guess the project would have been a disaster in that case.
Second thought was what if I was one of the kid photographed, how would have my picture looked like. Growing up I didn’t have many toys. Whatever few I had, were broken, courtesy of big brother. The only possession that I treasured above everything, which was my constant companion since the age of six, was a bicycle. It was my way to freedom. Any problem, any thing bothering me, I will pick up my bike and would go for a long ride. Well, living in university campus and next to army cantonment area had its advantage: Long, safe roads to ride your bike. I do not remember any other toy or thing whom I treasured as a child.
A corollary of the second thought train was what if I was asked to put out my most prized possession now. Would I be able to choose as easily now? I know one of my most prized “toy” has to be my camera. My smart phone is also very dear to me. My laptop? Hmmm. I know I would miss it sorely. But I guess I can manage with my smart phone for a while.
The prize of my most prized possession will go to my external hard drive that stores all my photos, my music, all my data including my PhD and master’s thesis and everything else. If something happens to it…well, let’s not talk about it. That hard drive is my life. Literally. Remember the story of the magician who transferred his life to a parrot? Well that hard drive is my parrot.
How about you? How would have your photograph looked like if you were the photographed kid? How different it is from your today’s reality?
When I saw these photographs, one of the first thoughts which came to my head was the difference in the kind of toys each child had. I tried in a way to correlate to the country they live in also.
ReplyDeleteI think when I was a kid, my most prized possessions were dolls and my colouring/ painting stuff. Today, sadly as I look around me its very gizmo driven, but I want to change that. Need to de-gizmosize myself!