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What's with the name?

Reader: cool blog, Karl! Though there’s one thing I don’t get…
Karl: Thanks, Reader! What’s that?
Reader: why is it called “more than a thousand words”?
Karl: *faces washes over with anger, reaches into trenchcoat whilst laughing hysterically*
Reader: whoa, please don’t shoot me; I’m just a curious reader!
Karl: *pulls out phone and navigates to this blog post*

Good question, where did the blog title come from and why am I even writing a blog?

The saying goes that “a picture tells a thousand words”. So often these days we tell entire experiences through pictures e.g. a holiday, a wedding, a life-change. But are a thousand words enough to tell the entire experience? I’m not so sure.

The picture that’s taken and shared with friends will generally be the perfect one, which will generally convey a positive message – the “picture perfect moment”. But summarising that experience into a perfect picture literally crops out the depth of that experience. If you just focus on the positive, is all the other stuff immaterial? Did it not add to the experience?

Let’s take an example – I travel India for three weeks and post a handful of token photos, think yoga pose in front of the Taj Mahal, playing dress ups in a saree and dining on a delicious curry. In reality, that experience could’ve been fraught with a lot of other crap! Think getting swindled in Agra, spending ages trying to find a saree colour that’ll match my beard and many hours on the loo thanks to that “delicious curry”. The richness of that experience is lost, it’s simmered down to only the best moments.

That feeling you get when you finally find the right sari!
(Photo credit: thanks DM!)

I recall an article I read a couple years ago which present this idea really well.

Now I don’t want to get all preachy about this, sharing pictures on social media is a fantastic way to keep in touch. Please keep it doing it, it’s nice to see what you're up to!

However, what I’m trying to achieve with this blog is a little more depth. I don’t want to just share the great moments, I want to share the not-so-great / random / weird and anything else that may be interesting.

So there’s your answer, Mr. Reader: this blog is aiming to tell more than a thousand words. What do you think about this, pictures and sharing? Feel free to let me know below :-)

Right now, I have to get moving on a job and house search. I’ll keep you updated on that in my next post...

Getting set up in 'the big smoke'.

Comments

  1. Unknown2 November 2017 at 06:51

    have you been to shoreditch yet and had a kale smoothie?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ace.architect7 November 2017 at 12:22

      Not yet bruv, been busy hitting up Brixton for the coffs and beeries.. Will try Shoreditch soon!

      Delete

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