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As a teenager, I used to regularly say "I'd rather look at life for real than through a view-finder of a camera" 30 years later I now know how wrong I was. I r

by Daviey 1y ago

As a teenager, I used to regularly say "I'd rather look at life for real than through a view-finder of a camera" 30 years later I now know how wrong I was. I regret not taking photos of everything I could. So many lost memories.

Nursie 1y ago
Mine was "I want to be experiencing life, not recording it", and recently when a large group of acquaintances were sharing memories of a particular period, I had nothing to share. I too wish there were some more photos from my late teens/early 20s. Of course this was all before smart phones, and now perhaps one may be justified complaining more about ubiquitous surveillance and incessant sharing online.
CTDOCodebases 1y ago
I used to have a really good long term memory for things until I started having sleep issues. It's great to look back and have reference points for things but I think what photos do is they server as a key to unlock memories. It's like they contain parity data which allows us to remember a whole day or night or week. Some times we just need a few bit's and the memories come flowing back whole and uncorrupted.
Guestmodinfo 1y ago
Same thing happened to me when I went to the two most beautiful places I have been. In the second place I should have taken more fotos becausei was aware of this fact from losing all memorable memories of the first trip. In all don't look for fotos but whatever good things u see MUST be captured otherwise you will forget in 6 months
rickdeckard 1y ago
I'm trying to catch up with that now, but I also don't want to introduce a smartphone into every experience and destroy the moment I actually wanted to capture. After searching alot for a very compact camera I can just pull out, blindly take pictures and stow away for later review, I found the long-discontinued DxO-One being a gem. A really nice blend of good camera-hardware and ultra-compact design, at a (now) crazy-low price. (It was initially sold at ~700 USD, but flopped and then later discontinued, but it can now still be purchased at ~110 USD as new, and that's hard to beat for a large-sensor (1" sensor) camera with a great lens (f/1.8 with mechanical iris). I started collecting data about it, because it also has quite some potential to be hacked and customized [0] [0]: https://github.com/rickdeck/DxO-One/wiki https://github.com/rickdeck/DxO-One/wiki
Double_a_92 1y ago
You can do both though. It's silly to go to a music concert and constantly try to film something in the chaos, instead of enjoying it. But that shouldn't stop you from taking a few pictures of you and your friends at the concert.
TuringNYC 1y ago
>> As a teenager, I used to regularly say "I'd rather look at life for real than through a view-finder of a camera" I agree with you, and also agree on the "balance" aspect. My father passed away 27yrs ago, before digital cameras. My memories of him now are just ambient. I remember vague feelings of our time together, but there are no aha-moment photos that capture moments in time. Perhaps in another 10yrs it will be a vague memory. Of the most cherished photos I have now, are shocked faces, grimaces, wide smiles, and movement of my own children and cat. Photos I dont value much are those I can find online anyway (e.g., a photo I have of the Eiffel Tower). OTOH, a nice angle of the Eiffel Tower, perhaps with kids trying to "hold" it, would be valued.
shnpln 1y ago
I think the answer is in the middle. Take the time to take a ton of photos. Then put the camera down and take the time to just live the moment. Both have validity.

by Daviey 1y ago

Nursie 1y ago

Mine was "I want to be experiencing life, not recording it", and recently when a large group of acquaintances were sharing memories of a particular period, I had nothing to share. I too wish there were some more photos from my late teens/early 20s. Of course this was all before smart phones, and now perhaps one may be justified complaining more about ubiquitous surveillance and incessant sharing online.

CTDOCodebases 1y ago

I used to have a really good long term memory for things until I started having sleep issues. It's great to look back and have reference points for things but I think what photos do is they server as a key to unlock memories. It's like they contain parity data which allows us to remember a whole day or night or week. Some times we just need a few bit's and the memories come flowing back whole and uncorrupted.

Guestmodinfo 1y ago

Same thing happened to me when I went to the two most beautiful places I have been. In the second place I should have taken more fotos becausei was aware of this fact from losing all memorable memories of the first trip. In all don't look for fotos but whatever good things u see MUST be captured otherwise you will forget in 6 months

rickdeckard 1y ago

I'm trying to catch up with that now, but I also don't want to introduce a smartphone into every experience and destroy the moment I actually wanted to capture. After searching alot for a very compact camera I can just pull out, blindly take pictures and stow away for later review, I found the long-discontinued DxO-One being a gem. A really nice blend of good camera-hardware and ultra-compact design, at a (now) crazy-low price. (It was initially sold at ~700 USD, but flopped and then later discontinued, but it can now still be purchased at ~110 USD as new, and that's hard to beat for a large-sensor (1" sensor) camera with a great lens (f/1.8 with mechanical iris). I started collecting data about it, because it also has quite some potential to be hacked and customized [0] [0]: https://github.com/rickdeck/DxO-One/wiki https://github.com/rickdeck/DxO-One/wiki

Double_a_92 1y ago

You can do both though. It's silly to go to a music concert and constantly try to film something in the chaos, instead of enjoying it. But that shouldn't stop you from taking a few pictures of you and your friends at the concert.

TuringNYC 1y ago

>> As a teenager, I used to regularly say "I'd rather look at life for real than through a view-finder of a camera" I agree with you, and also agree on the "balance" aspect. My father passed away 27yrs ago, before digital cameras. My memories of him now are just ambient. I remember vague feelings of our time together, but there are no aha-moment photos that capture moments in time. Perhaps in another 10yrs it will be a vague memory. Of the most cherished photos I have now, are shocked faces, grimaces, wide smiles, and movement of my own children and cat. Photos I dont value much are those I can find online anyway (e.g., a photo I have of the Eiffel Tower). OTOH, a nice angle of the Eiffel Tower, perhaps with kids trying to "hold" it, would be valued.

shnpln 1y ago

I think the answer is in the middle. Take the time to take a ton of photos. Then put the camera down and take the time to just live the moment. Both have validity.