Living your Life by Putting Down the Camera

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Stop right there! Put down the camera. Put down your phone. Put down your iPad. And look at what is in front of you.

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Technology truly is a blessing and a curse. 🙂

The fact that we can hop on our computers and video call our family and friends is amazing! I love it. And the fact that every electronic device we have now has a camera on it is pretty cool too. But in the past few years, these devices have been getting in our way. We no longer look at life and experience things in person, but rather we live from behind our camera/phone/iPad.

I see this a lot at weddings, particularly when the bride is coming down the aisle with her father. She does not see the loving faces of her friends and family, but instead sees numerous lenses, phones and even iPads as her guests try to get “the shot”. Their memories are formed through a viewfinder or worse yet, looking at a screen! And how often when our children (pets) do something cute do we turn and run to get the camera only to get back and see we have not only missed the shot, but also missed the moment?

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Our lives are being lived through our devices and many of us are not truly seeing things in real time but on pixelated screens then end up in terrible exposures.

So I challenge you. Put down the camera. Put down your phone. Put down your iPad. And look at what is in front of you.

Trust your memory. Trust your eyes. Trust that tomorrow and the next day and ten years from now you will remember when your child (pet) did something adorable and precious. Pictures are wonderful, but memories are better, especially when we actually see what is happening and don’t live it later through a badly exposed picture on our iPad.

Don’t get me wrong. I am just as guilty as each of you. 🙂 About a year or so ago I started to challenge myself  to live my life and not document every second of it. It. Is. HARD! Now when I see an amazing sunset or rainbow or beautiful scene, as much as I want to create a beautiful picture of it, I take the moment and live. People will say, “Oh! Did you get a picture?!” and I tell them, “I have a beautiful picture in my mind.” My memory is good and even if I cannot conjure up a specific sunset in an instant, those memories sneak up on me when I least expect and are wonderful to relive.

Please do not think that I am saying “Stop taking pictures!” I am asking you to step out from behind your devices and live your life in real time. Maybe only take one or two photos and then set the camera down. Just give it a try. Sometimes the visual pictures we paint when telling a story are even better than if we were able to show a picture. 🙂 And, we can embellish them as much as we want too. 😉

I would like you each to try something for me.

In the comments section below, please share a nice memory that you have, but do not have a photo of. Paint us a picture with your words so that we can “see” your memory too.

One visual memory that I have and do not have a photo of is from a long time ago. I am 4 or 5 years old and my granny has come from New Jersey to visit my family in Vermont. At my family’s home we have a big hill in front. One sunny, warm day Granny brought me out to the hill and showed me how to lay down at the top of the hill, tuck my arms at my sides and to roll down the hill. It was the most amazing thing ever!! As my little body rolled down the soft, grassy hill I remember my world flashing from sky to grass, sky to grass, sky to grass and then finally rolling to a stop on my back at the bottom. We would both be laughing so hard as crickets and butterflies flitted and jumped around us in the grass. It is one of my fondest memories of my time with her. 🙂

OK your turn to share your memory below!

Be well & Smile Often, Kathleen of North Photography

 

 

5 COMMENTS

  1. Totally agree!! my favorite memory is being born. Should have taken a selfie so could have compared it years later but my mom didn’t have a camera on her.

  2. I really am so bad at remembering to take pictures and I always seem to feel guilty about this. But I should remember that I’m forgetting because I’m living in the moment 🙂
    Probably my great memory that I really don’t have a lot of pictures of is Nora’s birth. I wasn’t really thinking about photos those two days or so but I can remember all the details as if it was yesterday, and it is beautiful memories!

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