I must be mindful of my writing and of my picture taking. Both my digital camera, and my blog are new to me. When I climb to the top of a mountain and receive the gift of a beautiful view and the exhilaration of vast altitude, I feel the immediate desire to share these feelings with my loved ones.
But that desire to share has much more detail than the simple idea of altruism. Within it are also desires of wanting to be influential and powerful, to have my loved ones think, “wow, look at him! I wish I could be there.” Those thoughts are not helpful for people. They do not teach, and they are more a taking than they are a giving. Even if the receiver who views these things gets pleasure out of what I send, they too should be mindful of the roots of that pleasure.
Also, if I am photographing or thinking about photographing, then I am spending less time in plain site and more time behind a physical or mental LCD screen, which I believe is intended to remind myself or others of what it is like to NOT be behind that LCD screen. So I need to remember that what is right in front of me cannot (and should not?) be fully replicated digitally.
I need to try to be aware of the consequences when I photograph up a mountain, or blog to Paraguay, or eat a television program, or drink a football game, or ego a conversation.
2 comments:
Joey, I finally got your blog link and I hope this comment finds you well. I am looking forward to hearing about your travels in person, along with some beer:) Be safe and keep writing. Tim
Interesting thoughts on picture-taking, but I'm going to selfishly suggest that you take and post as many as you can. I get mega-enjoyment from the pics and the interesting stories!
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