Play

Breathless giggles from an impromptu game of tag. Finally trying an art class after years of doodling in a notebook. Falling in love with new colors and styles after years of taking photographs.

Play — across generations, across borders — looks different to us all, but it’s a fundamental part of us from the very beginning. Play evolves as we grow, taking on new forms and strange mediums, but remains as enduring and essential to us as that very first time on the playground.

That’s why we teamed up with eight incredible photographers all over the world to capture the universal notion of “play” from their unique perspectives and cultures. What does it mean to them? How do they play in their daily lives, in their work, and in their art? Scroll through for some insight into each of these talented creators and their distinctive takes on play (all edited with the Lightroom mobile app, of course), then share what play looks like in your world with #CapturePlay on Instagram.

When we asked Taylor Rees to introduce herself, she told us, “I am a human being,” which feels just about right for this American photojournalist, filmmaker, and educator. Her curiosity about what it means to be a human being has driven her to study ecology, environmental science, and anthropology — but that doesn’t mean she’s strictly an academic. Taylor plays in all aspects of her life, especially photography. Her unique form of playing with her craft is experimenting with the level of intimacy that she can achieve with her subjects.

When asked what aspects of play she believes the world has lost sight of, she says, “I think we have lost sight of the simplicity of play. Play is more than leisure, it’s more than escapism from ‘normal life.’ And it’s more than childhood, innocence, and the lack of responsibility. Play is the experience of life in its fullest form when we are truly living in the moment. Play involves community, coming together with each other where we engage deeply in an activity that brings out the most aliveness in ourselves and in each other.”

Full article available at https://theblog.adobe.com/play-and-the-universal-language-of-photography/

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