Is Your Photography Causing You to Miss Life?

Derelict, Eastern Shore, VA

Have your ever photographed an exciting subject or event, then afterward you realize you don't remember, in detail, what you saw or experienced?  Read on.

Recently, I shared lunch with a new friend I met through this blog and Google+.  He is a really interesting and genuinely nice guy and we have many common interests.  Hopefully, our friendship will continue.

During our lunch conversation, he said something that figuratively "slapped" me in the face. He said something that brought home reality in a way that I had periodically noticed, but had largely forgotten.  Since then, I have thought about his statement quite a bit.

My friend was speaking of his history with photography and was explaining that he had periodically practiced photography over his adult life.  But there were times that he didn't. He said something such as "I put down the camera because I was missing life."  Wow!  That hit home.  Directly!

As opposed to my friend, who I see as much wiser than me in this instance, I always have had my camera with me and made images of significant events of both family and in general, interesting places, weather, people, animals, etc. which I encountered in my life.  It was not unusual, because I was concentrating on making the best image I could, that after "it" is over, I realized I had I missed the very event I was photographing!  How could I have missed it if I was there and photographed it?  I missed it because of my concentration on the technical and aesthetic aspects of making images, and not concentrating on what was happening before me.  I missed the emotion and the excitement of the event, place, thing and because of that, my memory of "it" was cursory. I really didn't see it.  I didn't live it.  I recorded it.  I realized that my memory of the event, place, etc. is more about the photographs I made than the event, place itself. And--that is really a shame.  This phenomenon is common.

Many times I have heard a combat photographer talk about photographing a dangerous situation and, because the camera was between him and reality, he/she really didn't feel in danger.  The photographer was detached from the scene because of the psychological barrier caused by looking through a viewfinder and concentrating on what was being photographed rather than the reality of the situation.  Not uncommon at all.

Have you ever photographed something and then after it was over you realized you really missed it?  You were there, but your memory of it is superficial?  Have you wished you would have just put your camera down, concentrated on enjoying the scene, birthday party, race, game, herd of animals, etc. and taken in the sights, sounds, smells, feelings, emotions of what was before you?

So, today, I will add to my photographic resolutions for this year.  I promise myself that I will let the camera hang around my neck periodically and drink in the important events in my life rather than always try to record them for posterity.  I resolve to not lift the camera to my eye every time I see something interesting and to just stand there, concentrate on what is unfolding before my eyes and make sure I have clear, unvarnished memories of the thing that has caught my attention.

I think that having the memory, experiencing the emotion, the excitement, the smells, the sounds and sights and not feel obligated to record it will be a very satisfying experience.  I'll let you know if I am successful.

Thanks for looking.  Enjoy!

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


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