Who doesn’t love taking photos? It’s the number one thing people look at on Facebook and the reason why Instagram is so popular.
Admit it! You’ve probably spent part of your morning today looking at someone else’s photos, before you even had breakfast.
I am totally guilty myself.
It’s never been easier to document every special memory of your life and every dull moment. That is, until we all get Google Glass or some other super futuristic form of wearable technology. I have visions of just touching my temple to snap a photo in years to come, don’t you?
Well, last weekend I decided to conduct a little mini personal experiment. I ventured home with the little man in tow for my best friends baby shower and decided I was NOT going to take tons of photos.
I wanted to see if I could actually live in the moment, instead of trying to scramble around and find ways to document it.
It was hard.
I’m not going to lie.
Having a tiny walking person around made it a little bit easier, but not much since like most people my phone is just a pocket away. Although, I did stop and think twice, before reaching for my device to snap a photo. I would ask myself. “Is this worth it?” Try it sometime. Chances are the answer is going to be “No, it’s not worth missing this livable moment just to archive it for later.”
I think in total I took about a dozen photos over the course of 4 days, when normally that would be up near the 50-75 mark. A small improvement- right?
Looking back, I know a lot happened that weekend and even though I don’t have pictures of the sunset, swimming in my dads pool, my best friends baby shower, a visit to the local fair and a trip to the aquarium right now I remember it because I lived it.
Years from now when I think of this trip I probably wont remember details, but that’s ok. I lived them. That matters more to me than knowing I have a hundred digital photos living inside my device.
Let’s be honest, many of us don’t even do anything with photos after all that snapping. They live inside our device and the cloud, for backup. Some might make it to Facebook and even fewer will get shared on Instagram. A majority of your photos won’t ever get printed, hung on a wall, propped up on a desk or put inside a scrapbook. They will simply live in storage land. It’s sad that photography and memory keeping has come to this.
This is so common though, the obsession with capturing the moment on film. It happens everyday, not just on special trips or during travel.
When you’re waiting at a stop light, taking a walk, in the line at the grocery store, at the gym, enjoying a meal or out and about- we’re constantly snapping photos or flicking through other people’s as a form of entertainment.
Photos used to be taken for your own memory and archiving. Now, we take photos to show our friends and family what we’re up to. It’s a form of validation, a way to say, “Hey check out how awesome my life is- no really look at these cool things I do!”
What happened to doing cool things just for the sake of doing them?
We’ve lost our sense of appreciation and gratitude for the day-to-day.
Life was meant to be lived and not always shared.
As you head into the weekend I encourage you to:
Stop.
Listen.
Smell.
Taste.
Observe.
Laugh.
It’s amazing what you will notice once you put your camera down.
Keep it in your pocket during dinner, have a conversation with your spouse, really watch your children play.
The memories will still be there, I promise.
P.S. Of the few photos I did take, this one is my favorite and I look at it everyday as a reminder to simply live. Adventure is just around the corner if you’ve got your eyes open, instead of behind a lens.
