“When people ask me what camera I use, I tell them my eyes.”
– Anonymous
I had recently visited my cousin in Pune and we were touring the local museums in search for design inspiration. Obviously I had my DSLR with the lens screwed on and all ready to take amazing photographs. I felt just like a professional photographer.
As I was busy clicking and adjusting various settings, a curious thought struck me – What exactly was I doing? I was here to find design inspiration, not document my journey. Constantly peering through the eyepiece, I had forgotten the beauty of of the actual art piece. I had lost the moment in my effort to capture it in a photograph I probably wouldn’t look at ever again.
The next day, I travelled without taking my camera. And trust me, the experience was ten times more beautiful and memorable without the constant pressure of ‘capturing’ it. Yes, we [me and my cousin] did take a couple of selfies and basked in our own beauty (haha), but those occasional photos from a low resolution mobile camera were so much better then the never ending stream that I took with the DSLR. I was able to spend time with my relatives, while at the same time admire the scene around me.
Sometimes, my aversion for taking photographs makes me wonder if I am not made to be a photographer. This in turn makes me wonder – but I do enjoy taking photographs. It becomes a mini-existential crisis – What am I doing? I am supposed to be enjoying artsy stuff like this. Am I liking this, am I not?
It took me some pondering to come up with what the actual problem was. The problem lay not in the actual taking of the photograph, but at the time of taking it. I realised that whenever I had the DSLR, I was so bent upon using it and proving my mettle as a photographer, that I forgot that the subject was the place I was visiting while the camera was a tool. All my focus shifted onto the fact that I had a camera and that I was expected (by whom?) to photograph all that was around me. This was what I needed to control. I did not have to photograph everything. It was upto me to decided what to capture. I could simply choose to enjoy the moment.
To conclude, I remember a quote from ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’, said by the protagonist’s friend (a famous photographer): “If I like a moment, I mean me…personally, I don’t like to have the distraction of a camera. I just want to stay in it. Right there…right here.”
mrudula 