During many of my past trips, I’ve held debates with myself of what the balance is between taking in moments and taking pictures or videos to capture the moment to relive it later.
A few years ago, I started to feel like if I was focusing on taking pictures while I was in beautiful places or at events that I enjoyed that I wouldn’t be able to fully take in the beauty that was around me. That I would be so distracted in capturing that I wouldn’t appreciate it.
I still hold this to some degree. I think it is possible to be so overtaken by proving that you’re at a place that you forget the reason why you might go there in the first place. It’s often made me wonder if they made cameras and phones illegal in National Parks and such if the crowds would decrease. If you don’t have anything to show that you went on an adventure, would you still go on the adventure? What do you enjoy about the adventure, the adventure itself, or proving that adventure to others afterward?
I’ve changed my mind to some degree about what you can capture while still being in the movement, and what I actually often like to do more now is small clips of life. Instead of taking a picture to capture the moment, taking a video so that when you go back and look at all the videos, you, for a second, get transported back to the place you were at when you shot the video.
I’ve been against capturing the moment for long enough now that it’s hard for me to pull a camera out now. I have to force myself at times to capture a movement or some beauty. But I’ve really found that future me appreciates current me more when I capture the moment for him.
Find the balance that works for you, but don’t neglect either. I think either way if you go to far you’ll regret it.