We dash up to the monument, snap a few picture, especially the one of our loved one standing next to it or on the steps, then we dash off to the next one. Why? To remember the occasion by? To remember what? The dashing around taking of pictures? How better we might remember it and what a better thing we might remember if we left the camera at home and spent a bit more time actually looking and seeing and thinking and wondering.(Says the one who took a full memory card full each and every day.)
The act of taking the picture is not the important thing. The capturing of the memory is the deal. I find that the older I get the less accurate my memory becomes(it's still very vivid but just wrong). Seeing an old picture helps keep me "honest" WRT what actually happened. Seeing other people's pictures helps me imagine what happened (even if I wasn't there). I agree that the act of simply collecting cool pictures might be OK but the real experience isn't in taking the picture or collecting them but recording history for future use. You clearly are focused on the experience of being there and your collection of pictures is much appreciated as a means of helping us partially share the experience.
ReplyDeleteKeep taking and sharing those great photos. I know that they won't get in the way of your experience.
Thanks much