Tourist’s Dilemma
I have been fortunate enough to visit a myriad of interesting locales around the world. At the same time, photography is one of my passions, i like to capture candid moments, special places, one-of-a-kind experiences. So I’m left with a dilemma, a dilemma I feel most people face. Do I enjoy the beauty of what I travelled for, or do I try to take photos, try angles, work the sunlight, in order to preserve the beauty, work on my skills, but also lose the beauty of living that moment. You’re left with either experiencing it yourself in that moment in time, or objectifying it and making it possible for virtually anybody to enjoy it.
I do have a concrete example. As my flickr page can testify, most of the places I’ve been have been pretty heavily photographed and documented in numerous pictures. I have always tried to balance my own enjoyment with the taking of the actual pictures, but I always felt like I might’ve missed out on a lot of things. So I decided that my spring-break will be spent away from my camera. I wanted to keep it down to a minimum and enjoy myself. It was fun and relaxing, but I can’t help feeling bad about missing all those great shots of sunsets, sunrises, palm-trees, horses galloping on the beach, etc. I also refrained from taking photos during the short lay-overs in New York, and I felt I missed great shadows on buildings, great poetic constructions, the daily goings-on, etc. But I had fun.
I don’t claim to be a professional photographer, but having an accessible flickr page can lead to great things. One of my pictures was chosen as an illustration for an article on nj.com, and, had it not been for a slight time difference, would’ve been featured in a slideshow on New York Magazine’s website. Another one is now part of a bunch of pictures depincting NYC landmarks on the new edition of Schmap, featuring Radio City Music Hall. So there’s a great benefit that might outweight the enjoyment of simply taking it all in for yourself.
Which do you think is better, photos or no photos?