Photos
Photos
[White Hat stands next to Cueball on a roof. There's a colourful sunset; in the distance, there are three people (a blonde girl, a Cueball-like guy and Megan) taking photos of the skyline as the sun sets.] White Hat: Ugh, I hate how people take pictures instead of just enjoying the view. Cueball: Why?
[White Hat turns to Cueball.] White Hat: Documenting your life distracts you from living it. You're not really— Cueball: Oh, come on.
[Only both  their faces.] Cueball: Trying to take a picture of a thing makes me pay more attention to it. Some of my best adventures are built around trying to photograph something.
[The panel zooms in on Cueball's face.] Cueball: If "other people having experiences incorrectly" is annoying to you, think how unbearable it must be to have a condescending stranger tell you they hate the way you're experiencing your life at just the moment you've found something you want to remember. Why the fuck do you care how someone else enjoys a sunset?
[Zoom back out.] White Hat: Well, they... White Hat: Because I just, uh... White Hat: ...
[Cueball takes out a camera.] Click

White Hat is upset at the sight of people photographing a richly colored sunset. His argument is that by documenting it instead of simply enjoying it, they have become an observer rather than a participant in life. Cueball expresses a contrary view, saying that not only does taking a photo of something help him focus attention on it, it is also none of White Hat's business how someone else chooses to enjoy a sunset.
Cueball's logic reduces White Hat to inarticulacy, then speechlessness. Cueball then takes a photograph, implying that he would most enjoy White Hat's discomfiture by recording an image of it for posterity.
Randall discusses a similar situation in the title text, the common modern phenomenon of restaurant diners photographing their meal. However, in this case he says he does not like them to document as he likes to listen to them eat. This may be sarcasm since not many people love the sound of someone else chewing. [ citation needed ] However, some people are annoyed by the food images posted to sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Note that the photograph is taken quickly; the chewing is only delayed for a few seconds. This brevity in delay can also apply to the main comic, since spending a few seconds photographing a sunset is just a brief interruption in enjoying the view sans camera.
This comic is referenced in Thing Explainer in the explanation Picture taker by a small drawing of people taking photos of the view from the edge of a cliff. Another Cueball standing behind those taking pictures (another than in this comic for sure) is talking to Megan :
Cueball: I hate how everyone takes pictures instead of just enjoying the view. Megan: ...You say, instead of enjoying the view.
See also 648: Fall Foliage about Megan taking pictures and Cueball complaining. Later in 1719: Superzoom White Hat and Cueball again discusses photography, while in 2111: Opportunity Rover White Hat shares this same opinion again.
[White Hat stands next to Cueball on a roof. There's a colourful sunset; in the distance, there are three people (a blonde girl, a Cueball-like guy and Megan) taking photos of the skyline as the sun sets.] White Hat: Ugh, I hate how people take pictures instead of just enjoying the view. Cueball: Why?
[White Hat turns to Cueball.] White Hat: Documenting your life distracts you from living it. You're not really— Cueball: Oh, come on.
[Only both  their faces.] Cueball: Trying to take a picture of a thing makes me pay more attention to it. Some of my best adventures are built around trying to photograph something.
[The panel zooms in on Cueball's face.] Cueball: If "other people having experiences incorrectly" is annoying to you, think how unbearable it must be to have a condescending stranger tell you they hate the way you're experiencing your life at just the moment you've found something you want to remember. Why the fuck do you care how someone else enjoys a sunset?
[Zoom back out.] White Hat: Well, they... White Hat: Because I just, uh... White Hat: ...
[Cueball takes out a camera.] Click
