Experiencing Versus Photographing
Sometimes I think you’re reading my mind. OK, not really, but it is funny sometimes how different people are thinking the same thing at about the same time. Thus was the case of a comment posted to one of my recent blog entries. The person posting the comment referred to taking a trip and capturing a lot of photos, but feeling on some level that she had missed out on the experience of being in a wonderful place.
This is something I’ve actually contemplated quite a few times, and was thinking about recently as I reflected on some of my recent trips and the way I approached them photographically. As I’ve written in previous blog posts, I like to take pictures. Lots, and lots, and lots of pictures! But I have felt on various occasions that focusing on capturing images in order to preserve my memories in photographs leads to not actually having that many memories in my own mind. I can look at certain groups of images and feel like I wasn’t ever at that place.
I’ve dealt with this in various ways. When I went to Italy last year, I wanted it to be first and foremost a vacation. I still took a lot of pictures, but I changed the way I approached the act of taking pictures. I focused on using my digital point-and-shoot camera for most of my photos, to the extent that only 25% of the photos I took were taken with my digital SLR. I didn’t want my focus to be on making beautiful pictures (crazy though that may sound) but rather on enjoying the experience, and snapping some casual photos to help me remind myself of all the wonderful things I saw.
When I went to Japan a couple months ago, my focus was a bit different. Sure, I still wanted to have a vacation, but I also wanted to come back with some images I could use in the books I’m working on. So I balanced things a bit differently, and on that trip more than half of my captures were with my digital SLR.
In some cases I take things to a bit of an extreme. When I really want to make sure I am fully engaged in an experience I’ll leave my camera behind. For example, a few years ago I had the opportunity to fly a Huey helicopter and a T-34 airplane (I’m a private pilot, though I’m not doing any flying these days). I knew this was going to be something I would want to fully experience and remember, so I made the decision not to do any photography.
I’ve also made a conscious decision not to bring a real camera with me when I’m cycling. You can imagine the beautiful scenes I frequently find riding scores of miles each week in the Puget Sound area. Several times I wanted to kick myself for not having a camera with me. But I have made a decision that when I’m riding that’s all about getting fit and having some time to myself to decompress. I want to focus on my riding, and not be stopping every few miles to take a photo.
It is a difficult balance, to be sure. But I think it is important to find that balance. I think it is important to be sure you’re both experiencing life, and doing the things you love. It’s OK to get completely absorbed in your photography. But sometimes I think you need to make a conscious decision to set that aside and enjoy the experience that is unfolding before you.
Explore posts in the same categories: Philosophical, Photography
June 25th, 2008 at 9:20 am
An interesting post, Tim…
One of my favorite places in the world is the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and I’m blessed enough to live fairly close to it…
It used to be that I went mainly for the Photography, but now, as i get older, I find myself taking the camera out of my backpack less and less - - I have been subconsciously pondering the ‘Experiencing vs. Photographing” question without realizing it.
Now, granted, I am a professional in this business, like you are, and deal with photographic issues all day, so perhaps I just want to “get away” - But I found that I simply enjoyed taking in my surroundings without puttering over composition, exposure, etc…
Now that you’ve put words to what i was doing subconsciously, it put things into perspective…
Cheers,
John
June 26th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Hi! Ho! Ho! Imagine my surprise as I read your “Experiencing vs. Photographing” blog. It brought a big smile when I read your mention of some years ago of your experience flying the Huey and the T-34. Yes, that was a fun day, especially dinner at our house with my DIG favorite people and highlighted guest! Mike will read this later tonight and he’ll be pleased that you have this fond memory.
Congratulations to you for making yet another meaningful life decision. With each one, it seems, we ALL benefit from and look forward to as do you!
Good luck on your biking trip to Spain. You will so enjoy it. Probably a good decision about leaving the camera at home. A friend and I just returned from Portugal where my SLR and point and shoot were just about permanently affixed to my face!
You’re so right about the feeling that “was I really there”?
Now I’m going back to finish listening to your Channel 10 appearance. I know Microsoft mourns your leaving but we look forward to all the good things to come. Take care,
Your friend,
Carol Dillon
July 1st, 2008 at 2:14 pm
There may be another side to your discussion Tim. On several trips abroad I’ve managed to shoot hundreds of images on each one. Granted these were guided trips and digesting all of the information thrown our way was overwhelming. In particular I would shoot the following days itineary posted every night before turning in. This was immensly helpful after the trip back home and I could relive each day as the trip moved on. The names and places were a big help in assembling a slide show to remember the sites we visited. Getting “in the zone” on a guided trip really would be difficult as you may imagine.
Just another point to view.
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I’m not much of a philosophical writer but felt compelled to add a comment to this subject just because it has been haunting me for the last couple of years- very much as you and the lady mentioned at the top of the blog have described it. It is challenging but also frustrating- for me. You have described the dilema perfectly.
I am 67 and retired; my wife is some 16 years younger and still employed. We enjoy going on annual vacation trips to both New England and to your San Juan Islands to photograph (on a strictly amateurish level) wildlife- especially moose in Maine and the Orca whales in the San Juans. Also enjoy lighthouses, landscapes macro photography of woodlore, etc.
The point is, the last couple years, I find that, although I always carry the digi SLR, and my wife has her own now, I don’t seem always driven to keep taking it out and shooting stuff like I used to. Meanwhile, she is snapping away. Guess I feel that, when I’m trying to view and absorb my surroundings through the viewfinder, it’s more like watching a travel documentary about a place on TV than actually being there live. This doesn’t seem to bother my wife; she seems to experience and photograph quite handily. Is it the getting older thing? Or, perhaps it’s one of those differences between men and women?
So, she says, “why aren’t you taking any pix?” And I don’t have a plausible answer to offer. So, I just wing it and say something like “well, we don’t need dups and yours always turn out better anyway.”
So, when we get back home to Iowa, she always has tons of shots. We look at them on the computer screen and I ooh and aw over them and kick myself for not taking more while I was there and had the chance. While there, I did find myself making suggestions for shots, exposure compensation and the like (not that she needs them!) but not so anxious to take my own shots. Like with the whales in San Juan, if you focus all your attention and energy on keeping the critters IN your viewfinder (and other folks heads OUT) you miss everything else going on around and behind you. (They always breach where you are not pointing your lens!)
So, thanks for listening and thanks for articulating very well thoughts and emotions many of us have apparently had but have not always been able to find words to describe. We look forward to your continued words of wisdom! For what it’s worth, I think it is a “good thing” to put the camera down and fully experience something or someplace really cool around you, now and then.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
I suppose for the people that have experienced these types of moments, it can’t help but to bring a smile to your face. I’ve always thought about this from the perspective that I wish I had taken more pictures in some places because I felt that I didn’t have enough images to go with the great memories. In the moment though, I always remember thinking either “why am I not taking pictures” when I had my camera with me, or “Wow, I’ve got to get some images of that…(insert interesting item here)” and then the photographs never really measure up to the memories.
Back in 2004 I spent a couple of days in Budapest while on my way from Kosovo to Moscow. I had just bought my first dSLR, a Nikon D70, and I didn’t take a single photograph while I was there. Budapest is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and one of my all-time favorites. I probably walked 20+ miles over two days, and was presented with some of the most beautiful scenes you could imagine, yet my camera never left the hotel. It was one of the few cities that left me in awe. It was a week or two before Christmas, and it was snowing….just thinking about it brings a huge smile to my face.
I clearly remember kicking myself (figuratively) after I left for not taking any photographs, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I hadn’t. And this wasn’t the first time I had done this. Looking back, I took very few photographs the first time I visited Stockholm, Prague, Ireland / N. Ireland, and the French Riviera. I mention these few because they are places that I absolutely love and have visited more than once, and snapped tons of images on subsequent trips. But I’ve never been back to Budapest.
I could never really put my finger on why I had done this, until I read your blog entry. Being a rank-and-file amateur I suppose that taking images isn’t as instinctive as it would be for a professional. But I now understand the difference between Experiencing vs. Photographing; something for which I seem to have a natural instinct. And Budapest is really the best example of that because I was so overwhelmed by this beautiful city that without even thinking about it, I chose to experience Budapest instead of trying to preserve it with images.
So thank you, Tim. Your explanation of Experiencing vs. Photographing has given me the answer to a question that I had ofter wondered about, but was never able to put into the right context. I guess we all have our own personal Budapest. That one place that just blew you away, above all others. I don’t think I could have done it justice, to be honest, and if I ever make it back there I’ll definitely need better glass than I have now.
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:48 am
Have been reading with great interest the comments about experiencing vs capturing the moment. I am a 63 year old woman recently married to an 84 year old man. We were brought together by our love of photography. During our many jaunts to take photos, I have pondered whether it is better to feel the moment or capture the moment. One thing prompted my decision that capturing is the better alternative. Often, observers approach us to request copies of our shots. Apparently, our enthusiam for memorializing their actions encourages them to make contact. The result is that we try to be better photographers and photo editors in order to send them copies of our shots. It is a fine way to make new friends. Granted, something is lost if the camera hides your eyes. You cannot fully appreciate what goes on beyond the lens. And frankly, some people think you are a bit absurd. Fortunately, I’m past the age where others’ opinions mean more than my own! My husband and I are amature photographers whose lives are enriched by each other’s enthusiasm, the enthusiasm of those we meet on our trips, and by the wonderful sites we see and capture.