12 Comments

  1. Thank you for posting this. I love taking photos. My family ask me to take them at family parties, and I always create photo books when I travel. I love just capturing moments and slices of life and places. When I’m wandering around on holiday somewhere new, I see everything, and the things I see I often want to capture in an image. For me that’s a major part of the fun of a foreign trip. I take a few selfies of me at major sites, mostly because I’m usually travelling alone and have no one to take one for me.

    I’ve just come back from one trip with a friend who doesn’t take photos and doesn’t understand why I take so many. When I asked if she wanted me to photograph her she said no. When I asked if she’d take one of me somewhere towards the end of the trip (so I didn’t have to do the selfie thing she was giving me side eye for, and I didn’t do a duck pout once!)) she said no and walked off before ranting about how I needed to just enjoy the moment and put my camera down. She thought I was doing it all for vanity and likes on social media.

    But that was me enjoying the moment, and only a few end up for public view online.

    It made me feel like she thought I was a fool and she was some how more worthy as a traveller, which i know is ridiculous. I had to count to ten and breathe before I spoke to her about it.

  2. Man, people can be too nosy. Especially since if he had really been so wise and sage as to be giving you advice he should’ve realized that artists have always been somewhat removed (like The Lady of Shalott) but it’s necessary because, like the Lady, without recording what we witness to create meaning we can’t live. The artist doesn’t see life at all, but the impressions of life that hold significance. That is what art is, not the direct representation of life but rearrangement of life so that the truths of the world can become more visible. I think telling people to “live in every moment” is just another way extroverts make introverts feel like we’re weird haha.

    1. First of all: can we be best frands?

      The Lady of Shalott is my favorite ballad/poem ever so for you to use it as an example of the artist is just excellent.
      And then, you hit on another saying that has always bothered me! You get it!
      Thank you for your awesomeness :)

  3. Well put! I know there have been many times when I miss having a photo to remember a certain event, and I do want my children to have the benefit of photos to pour through when they’re older (of course, they don’t all have to be cropped, scrapbooked and documented– that came to a screeching halt three kids ago).My husband and I were just talking about this the other day, about how he’d rather live in the moment rather than take pictures of it, but he’s beginning to take more now (or there would be no pictures of me!). Balance, like you said, is always the key.

  4. I know I already commented on this on Facebook but I went back and read it again because I enjoyed it so much:) My favorite part: “Feeling guilt and questioning our purpose for our actions is not a bad thing. Guilt, contrary to what our culture tells us, is meant to keep us mindful of our actions, and is necessary for self discovery and subsequent self-betterment; and then we can move on, released from regret.” Well done, Carolyn!

  5. Love this! I love taking pictures, and I dislike when people give me a hard time for it. Then a month later, ask for me to send them some of the pictures I took haha. If it is something you enjoy, click away ;)

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