meaningful, memorable experiences

Since writing my last post, I’ve felt kind of badly about a comment I made concerning “tourist shots.” I’ve been afraid that comment sounded a bit elitist. I’ve been thinking quite a bit about how the photographs a person takes as they journey through life are all part of the attempt to make a record of meaningful, memorable experiences. And although I may take the photography-part of the equation a little more seriously than the ‘average’ tourist, that doesn’t automatically mean my experience was more meaningful or memorable than, for example, the girl at Delicate Arch taking a picture with the camera on her cell phone, or the person photographing Balanced Rock through their car’s windshield. When they get home and look at their photographs, I’m sure they feel the same thrill as I do when I look at my photos and think, “I was here! I saw this! I did this!”

And just as an aside… Any time you start to feel cocky about the shots you take somewhere, all you need to do to bring yourself back down to earth is make a visit to the gift shop wherever you happen to be. There you’ll find photos, shot by professionals, which make yours look like they were taken by a six-year-old with a disposable camera. But again, that has more to do with the technical-side of the equation (or just being lucky enough to be at a certain spot and capture some exceptional lighting or weather), and not so much to do with having a personal record of a meaningful, memorable experience.

Life is comprised of a series of meaningful, memorable experiences. Experiences of joy & sorrow, pride & disappointment, love & heartache. And while those experiences unfold in a rigid chronological sequence, in our minds & hearts they sort themselves out in quite a different order of importance. None of my photos of my German Shepherd are technical masterpieces, but now that she’s gone, they’re more special to me than anything else I’ve ever shot. And while my photos from my hike up Longs Peak are undeniably rough, they mean more to me than the many other ‘prettier’ shots I’ve taken in Rocky Mountain National Park.

When it’s all said and done, what matters most (at least for us amateur photographers, since we don’t have to make our living with our camera) is the experience, and the thoughts & memories of that experience which are summoned up by our photographs.

Thanks for reading about stuff I’ve photographed. -Rich