You can’t always have the camera at your side, or up to your face – part of photography is missing things.  That’s a very difficult lesson to learn as a photographer, our pursuit is dedicated to controlling and stopping time.  I remember hearing a well known photographer that I respected say that “you miss photos all the time, and that’s part of photography” – it came as a real relief.  We’re human, the pursuit should be rooted in pleasure and sometimes it’s good to just acknowledge that you saw the moment, framed it and captured it and stored it on your personal harddrive of neural networking.

via Tim Soter… blog..

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8 Comments

  1. … the problem is my personal hard drive has loss of memory, which makes it impossible for any neural networking!

  2. Over the years, I’ve realized that experiencing something is far more enjoyable than being stuck behind a camera documenting it only to look at the photos later and not actually have been involved in the experience. To me it’s sometimes a real shame to be a bystander, another word for a photographer. I want to live and do more than always be crutched with a camera. Career 2.0 will be in the next few years for sure. I have enjoyed photography but it’s not the end all be all that too many want to make it.

    • I totally agree with you on this…be in the moment, experience the experience. When you leave the camera behind, you realize what you have been missing!

  3. I have to agree with both comments. Jane and JS. My short term memory is shot and I don’t think it’s necessarily due to aging as I think it is from information overload. OCD of too much all at once and I can never seem to “upgrade” fast enough. In regards to JS’s comments, nothing could be more true. I like to bring my camera with me wherever I go and even when I am without it, I catch myself “seeing” all the time. But to slow down and be present in the moment, and to experience life as it’s happening is irreplaceable. Time slows down. When I am shooting my projects, most of my time is spent observing. Listening, and just being there. Letting things unfold organically rather than getting into a mindset of capturing.

  4. I have learned over the years that having a note book or journal is key to the the photos I miss. I make notes constantly. It also reduces information build up, so I have the ability to focus project at hand.

    The note taking is also key to my enjoyment of numerous careers since I tend to be a workaholic. It gave me the ability not to take work home, and these days it’s important since 60% of work is a dozen steps away most of the time.

    • Yes! I have adopted that same habit of carrying a -paper!! -note pad with me. When I miss a picture, it quite often lands on the note pad, and will enrich something (picture, whatever) else later on.

  5. I think a photographer’s style is very much influenced by all those observations that never make it directly into a photography, but that make their way indirectly and even subconsciously into future ones. The “database” up in your head isn’t a random collection of facts, but memories of things with a personal resonance–and no two databases are alike.

  6. Once again I’m reminded of Henri Cartier-Bresson, who once said “Life is once, forever”.


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