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11/15/2011 09:00:28 AM · #1 |
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11/15/2011 09:10:41 AM · #2 |
| Great article. And has quite a ring of truth to it! |
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11/15/2011 09:22:29 AM · #3 |
Originally posted by Melethia:
And has quite a ring of truth to it! |
In some ways perhaps, but taking photos has also opened me up to seeing the sights, details and people in ways I never did before. I look at what is in front of my eyes more thoroughly and with an appreciation. When I was stationed at Rhein-Main, I just took the occasional snapshot with my Olympus XA, but I never explored the details and people of Frankfurt the way you did when you were there. I regret that now.
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11/15/2011 09:24:31 AM · #4 |
| My epiphany was after my daughter's dance program, I realized I hadn't watched any of it - I'd only looked through the viewfinder the entire time. The next performance, I put the camera away, and just enjoyed the program. |
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11/15/2011 09:29:57 AM · #5 |
Good point Peter. But in all honesty, we do not have the time to travel and explore. Or make sketches or watercolors when travelling so that we can observe better and get soaked in the spirit of the place.
But we still have the time to look around us every day, to the tiniest detail of daily life. And this is what people do not do properly.
As a voracious reader of travel essays, I can tell that extremely few pictures (if any) are so vivid as the writing of a Freya Stark for instance or Colin Thubron, just to name two of the masters of the genre. |
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11/15/2011 09:30:17 AM · #6 |
When we travel, I take cameras. However, when possible I explore without the camera first and then take the camera the next trip, or day. I agree that you do have to pull yourself away from the view finder, at times. At the same time, I do not photograph to document my memories. I try to capture what I felt about the place.
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11/15/2011 09:39:41 AM · #7 |
When photography first came to be, back in the late 1800's and books full of pictures of all of the exotic, far away places became more common, people said "Oh no! Now no one will want to actually go to those places.". Of course that didn't happen.
In this case, it's about making the camera part of your experience and not the entirety of it. I take the article as a cautionary tale.
Though when he talks about "getting lost" that needs its own caution because in many places getting lost can lead to getting dead. |
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11/15/2011 09:44:25 AM · #8 |
Originally posted by ambaker:
... I try to capture what I felt about the place. |
I like that, Alex! |
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11/15/2011 09:54:40 AM · #9 |
He makes good points about being overly reliant on technology, and I'd immediately agree my own travels were much more fun and interesting when I was stumbling without a clue, asking everyone in sight for help. Now if I don't know exactly where I'm going or have it all planned out (with help from the Internet) in advance, I feel like an idiot. Age is part of that as well; less seat-of-pants navigation.
But photos are different. For me they serve as a time machine. I can look at a photo from a trip 15 years ago and remember what I had for lunch that day, who I was with, what we did next. Without those visual prompts my memory just doesn't work as well. |
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11/15/2011 09:54:50 AM · #10 |
After I read the article, I think that it's not that big of a deal what is he talking about. I think some of us traveling to take photos, and that's the reason they go to those places. Photography became our reason to travel... to capture and keep the moment forever, get something very memorable. I think this is now a learning curve, because cameras on almost everything is something new. I am sure people will organize themselves better, and spend less time taking photos and more time actually enjoying the scenery, say give or take a generation later.
I went to hockey games twice in my life. Both times I spent first quarter taken photos and rest watching the game. I took nice photos for myself, and enjoyed the game as well. Remember, photographs live much more time than the moment we have that time. Telling story is one thing, but showing the story, is priceless.
So, I think he is just being a little sensitive about this subject, I say, click away... we'll change to better in time, like we always do :) |
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11/15/2011 10:16:06 AM · #11 |
Case study. We recently spent 11 days traveling in CA and CO. I hauled a bag full of gear and a tripod. After culling, I wound up with... wait for it... 85 photos. I certainly could have come back with hundreds, but that wasn't what the trip was about. I'm happy with what I came back with.
I will take other trips where I will be more focused on photography, and will come back with a lot more good work.
ETA:
With respect to technology dependence, sure, we used GPS to guide us, but what that enabled was an almost completely unplanned itinerary. We made our way from place to place as we pleased, basically made it up as we went along. We had a blast.
Message edited by author 2011-11-15 10:18:12.
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11/15/2011 10:33:37 AM · #12 |
| The guy from CNN is free to not take as many pictures as he wants. I love my DSLR and seldom leave home without it. My g10 lives in a special pocket in my purse. For me a lot of the pleasure of the trip is taking the pictures. On the few times I travel without my camera, I come home with the feeling that I have really missed out. |
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11/15/2011 11:05:14 AM · #13 |
| i hate the gaps in my past when i did not take a camera...the places i went, the people i met, the food i ate, the family i was with. all fading/forgotten memories, unpreserved. |
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11/15/2011 11:22:41 AM · #14 |
My camera(s) go with me everywhere, but they complement the experience(s), not dictate them. I've been carrying them around for so long that I live life, experience it, and bring those moments that made the journey special home with me.....
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11/15/2011 02:23:22 PM · #15 |
It is easy to laugh at the hordes in the Louvre, holding their cell phones over their heads, snapping images of the Mona Lisa which will turn out much worse than anything they could buy on a postcard; But is it fair? Before cameras, an educated person learned to sketch to document their travels. The monuments in the valley of the Kings along the Nile are covered in carved graffiti from centuries past. When we travel we want some tangible proof that we were there, and a camera is a pretty good way to do that.
"Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints" is the mantra of the aware tourist. It sure beats the old take home a piece of their cultural heritage, leave behind your name carved into their monuments.
Sure you can miss stuff when you have a camera in front of your eye, but when you have a goal you are focused on, you always miss stuff. But you get other stuff that you would have missed if you weren't making images. I wander down allies to photograph things that would otherwise go unnoticed. If the images you make aren't worth the time it takes to make them, stop. If your camera is ruining your trip, then you aren't a photographer.
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11/15/2011 02:28:10 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by dtremain:
My epiphany was after my daughter's dance program, I realized I hadn't watched any of it - I'd only looked through the viewfinder the entire time. The next performance, I put the camera away, and just enjoyed the program. |
Yet another reason the final dress rehersal is the best time to take cast/performance photos.
Originally posted by FocusPoint:
I went to hockey games twice in my life. Both times I spent first quarter taken photos and rest watching the game. |
There must have been some interesting timing involved in your photo shoot, since hockey is traditionally played in three 20-minute periods (maybe different for juniors or college?). :-)
Originally posted by BrennanOB:
Sure you can miss stuff when you have a camera in front of your eye ... |
Or, if you are considering things as photo subjects, you may look at them more closely and more appreciatively than just watching another landmark going by the (car) window ...
And, now that I think of it, there are some places you shouldn't even leave footprints ...
Message edited by author 2011-11-15 14:38:42. |
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11/15/2011 02:28:31 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by BrennanOB:
"Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints" is the mantra of the aware tourist |
I've heard that before and I like the quote. No need for lots of junky dust collectors that are actually mass produced in China. My photos are better souvenirs than anything else. The only thing I always buy is a shot glass from the places I visit. Interesting item for me to collect, since I don't drink anything beyond an occasional light beer.
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11/15/2011 03:46:02 PM · #18 |
Re technology ruining the moment:
We had a 3 week whirlwind tour of Germany. It was hard work because I did cram in a lot.
However, we saw so much and had a fantastic time with wonderful memories (and the photos to help preserve them).
Thanks to technology, we did NOT have to spend a good chunk of that trip stumbling around, scratching heads, getting lost, searching for a kind soul to help get us back onto track.
Why fight it? I certainly don't regret a single photo or the times I used the internet to find a hotel room instead of spending the night under a bridge. |
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11/15/2011 05:15:23 PM · #19 |
Embrace the technology, I say, but don't let if overwhelm the enjoyment of the moment. Another case study:
Yesterday, I saw a post on another forum regarding a beautiful area near "the wave" in northern AZ. the poster wasn't specific enough for me to understand exactly where he was shooting, but a few minutes on Google Earth let me pinpoint the area exactly.
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11/15/2011 05:17:55 PM · #20 |
Another thought: as photographers, we think nothing of spending time on a single subject, seemingly to the exclusion of other things. While this is great if we're on our own, it can be frustrating to our traveling companions who are not avid photographers. We need to recognize when to suppress the photo obsession, and when to feed it.
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11/15/2011 05:31:37 PM · #21 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
Another thought: as photographers, we think nothing of spending time on a single subject, seemingly to the exclusion of other things. While this is great if we're on our own, it can be frustrating to our traveling companions who are not avid photographers. We need to recognize when to suppress the photo obsession, and when to feed it. |
Or we need better selection in travel companions |
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11/16/2011 12:13:50 AM · #22 |
When I travel I take cameras with me but I shoot for a reason that may not be that common.
There is so much ugliness in the world ... traffic, violence, congestion, disrespect, pollution, prejudice, sprawl, ... in the middle of all that, I find countless examples of people trying to make their own tiny part of the world beautiful. With their relationships, the places they live, their outlook on life.
When I travel, I set myself an assignment - bring back whatever is beautiful about a place. Create a memory of that beauty to share with others. And then i write about what I've photographed. The photographing and selecting and processing and writing cement the experience in my memory and I carry it with me. People I've traveled with sometimes tell me - "Your photos and your writing are better than being there. Were we on the same trip?" And others have told me, "I wish I'd skipped the dysentery and simply enjoyed what you captured."
Now, to do this, I spend some time not photographing. I like to stay in a place long enough to get a feel for it, to learn its mood at different times of day, maybe in different weather. and my best photos tend to come later in a travel experience or on a return trip ... because I've seen a place first, and then, seen it through a view finder second.
Don't misunderstand, I am completely capable of shooting 3,000 images in a weekend as I did last weekend at Aviation Nation but the take is so much better if you know where to point the camera before you touch the shutter.
Just a point of view. |
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11/16/2011 01:19:22 AM · #23 |
And a nice point of view it is - thanks for sharing!!
I plan my vacations around photography a lot. It's the way I like to see things - through a viewfinder. Do I miss stuff? Maybe. But I bet I see more than those who aren't looking the way we tend to look. :-) |
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11/16/2011 01:51:47 AM · #24 |
Originally posted by bohemka:
For me they serve as a time machine. I can look at a photo from a trip 15 years ago and remember what I had for lunch that day, who I was with, what we did next. Without those visual prompts my memory just doesn't work as well. |
That's it for me as well.... I spent a lot of time traveling in my 20's and have - dunno - maybe a couple hundred shots from that period..... But I can look at some of the crappy pictures and remember the feel and see stuff outside of the frame because I was a part of the scene. I remember the street performer outside the frame, I remember playing cards with people I had never meet before or since, I remember the walk up the hill to see the view e.t.c.
Maybe it's just all to make up for a poor memory :-) |
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11/16/2011 02:13:33 AM · #25 |
Originally posted by robs:
Maybe it's just all to make up for a poor memory :-) |
Doesn't always work - I see pictures here in my portfolio and can't remember taking them..... heh!! |
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