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CREATING A BLOG ENTRY WHILE HERE AT Rist Camp is rather problematic inasmuch as there are a host of distractions. There is the never-ending and ever-changing view from the porch or 9 holes of golf everyday on one of the most scenic courses in the Adirondacks. Then there is the early evening>sunset porch monkey hour spent sipping a very good whiskey and sampling a bit if a very good cigar. And, of course, I would be very remiss if I were to leave out the kitchen sink.
That written, were I to follow the lead of other so-called photo sites, I could write endlessly about the variety and finer points of whiskey (and how it is made) or the finer points of golf and my golf game (I’m low handicaper), but, as promised I won’t go there. So…
How about the idea of being in the moment, to picture or not to picture.
Recently, on a couple “true” photo sites, the idea that there is a time to photograph and time not to photograph was bantterd about. The notion that making a photograph somehow pulls the maker out of the moment and thereby diminishes the appreciation thereof. And, that constantly stopping to make a picture while talking a walk destroys the mood of simply taking a walk, not to mention annoying one’s companion.
Now I can see that that idea has some merit when considering a “serious” amateur picture maker who totes around a camera bag full of lenses, filters, et al and stops to “work” a scene, maybe even setting up a tripod and/or changing lenses. However, when it comes to my manner of making pictures, the idea has a very much not so much application.
To wit, even in my “real” camera days I-like many others-was a proponent of and practitioner of the 1 camera / 1 lens brigade. The camera was set up to be essentially, lift to the eye, point, shoot. Add to that efficiency the fact that I rarely “work” a scene and now that I am picture making within the iPhone brigade, I have time aplenty to savor/ be in the moment.
However, iMo, if one encounters a moment to be savored, appreciated, or to “be in”, not making of picture of a time-slice of that moment-in the most efficient mentally / emotionally non-invasive manner possible-is a missed opportunity. That is, an opportunity to make a picture of a moment that can be savored, appreciated, contemplated and enjoyed in an extended manner that is not possible in the actual moment.
After all, moments come and go in a….well…in a moment. Whereas a photograph can be there “forever” (within the limits of archival-ness) and is fully capable of, at least for the picture maker (and, perhaps for a companion who experienced the same moment), instigating similar feelings to those which were a part of the original being-the-moment circumstance.
So, my advice to the serious amateur, is keep it simple.That’s cuz even the most amateur-ishly made snapshot is perfectly capable of producing a recognizable facsimile of a memorable moment.