But
now I’m in the Australian outback (the real one, not the steakhouse), and this
is no longer the case.
To
be fair, this trip is different from previous ones, as it’s an
assignment, not a vacation. I’m here to report and write an article, and it made sense to bring
a camera with me to help add a visual dimension to the story (although, as I’m
sure you can tell by now, my prose is often so vivid that it renders
photography irrelevant).
So
most of the pictures I’ve taken so far have been for work rather than for
pleasure. Still, there is some amazing scenery out here, and since I typically already
have a camera around my neck…well, it seems silly not to use it.
Overall,
taking these photos has been very enjoyable and mainly reinforced my belief
that not bringing a camera anywhere for the first quarter of my life was
probably due to some odd and ultimately pointless type of stubbornness. It’s
cool to thumb/scroll through things you’ve taken pictures of, and remembering
fun experiences is much easier when you have a visual reminder of what those
fun experiences looked like.
Still,
having now done both, there is one thing about not taking photos that I think
is superior to taking photos: it makes it much easier to live in the moment.
When I’m taking a picture of something, it’s hard for me to be fully engrossed in
the present since there are so many things for Future Eddie to be concerned
about: how the photo will look on my computer, what other people will think of
it, what clever caption to write underneath it, where to hide the body, etc.
It’s an annoying part of living in
a world where it’s so easy to figure out what anyone else is doing at any given
time. In some respects, actually having fun has become secondary to letting
people know how much fun you’re having. It’s not enough just to go to a concert
anymore; you have to photograph the concert, tweet about the concert, Facebook
about the concert, basically do all sorts of things to let people know that you
were there and you had a great fucking time and, damn it, they should’ve come
with you. It can make sitting down and enjoying the music difficult.
Look,
I own a sort of expensive camera now, so I’ll probably continue bringing it
with me on trips if only because of my stinginess. And I certainly don’t mean
to denigrate photography, which has been around for much longer than Facebook
and Twitter and does have a few decent capabilities. I just think it’s healthy
to put the camera down every now and then and simply enjoy a gorgeous landscape
or a night at the bar without worrying about having something to show for it
later. If you’re really in a situation worth photographing, you won’t need a
picture to keep its memory alive, and it won’t matter how many other people
know what you did or what you saw. What will matter is the experience you had
while you were there, not the experience you have while looking at it later.
Also,
Instagram is not worth a billion dollars. I don’t really know anything about
economics, but I feel pretty confident about this.
