Has This Ever Happened To You?

Waikiki Beach Hawaii Paddle Surfer at Sunset (click to enlarge)
Nikon D300, 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens @ 200mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

Have you ever been out photographing something interesting or important to you, then afterwards you realized you had missed the experience? Did you return home with almost no memories of it?  Let me explain.

Let's say you are photographing your young child's birthday party or a gorgeous once-in-a-lifetime landscape at dawn or the big finish of a race or any other event in which you are really concentrating on capturing all of the perfect, in the moment, photographs.  You are looking through that viewfinder or at the LCD, concentrating intensely as you don't want to miss those memorable moments—you know, the very ones you are there to photograph.

After the event is over, you start thinking about the event and realize you missed it!  You were there but you were concentrating so hard on recording it that you didn't take time to experience it yourself.  All you have for your memories are the photographs themselves.  You didn't take in the moment.  You didn't take time to smell the smells. You didn't take time to feel the wind on your face or hear the laughter of your child or listen to the crowd roar.  You got the photographs, but you made no direct memories.  You didn't take time to absorb the emotion of what you witnessed only through the camera. I'm sure you understand where I'm going with this.

I bet for some of you, almost no photographs exist of you being part of family events. That is because you have always been the one behind the camera.  You've captured everyone else, but there is no proof that you were there!  After all is said and done, your family won't have a visual record of you over the years.

I've experienced this many too many times in my life.  I've come away with photographs but missed being a part of an important moment in my or my family's life.  I now take the time to experience life. I'm now not always the family photographer.  I don't want to miss any more direct memories.  Sometimes it is wiser to, on occasion, just step back and fully immerse yourself in your surroundings, consciously trying to remember everything about what is going on around you rather than trying to make images.

The lesson I have learned over the past decades is not to miss out on the most important memories of your life just to get the perfect image.  But that is just me...

Food for thought.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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