You know that feeling when...

... you are looking at some of the most beautiful lighting mother nature can provide, and you can't do anything with it because you left your camera at home and you are trapped inside a classroom teaching 7th graders about biology? That was my morning today. At 9am I looked outside the window of the school that I subsitute teach at, and the morning light was diffusely glowing yellow-orange through the fog that had formed after last night's ice and rain. In my mind I was firing off roll after roll of Velvia, getting the 'perfect' shot through a foggy patch of maple trees or across the acres of farmland that spread through this town.

Well, I just wanted to let that out... because it had been wearing on me all day long! We still have some icy snow left on the ground, so hopefully tomorrow morning will yield similar conditions. I can only hope!

-Chris

One is I ALWAYS have a camera with me. If nothing else, my Canon ELPH p&s.

One the other hand, I've simply learned to enjoy SEEING. Life as I experience it does not have to be preserved in a photo for me to enjoy and appreciate it. If I'm in a situation where I absolutely cannot take a picture, I just enjoy the passing moment with no regrets and move on...

Same with me, Steve. One of my husband's favorite quotes from me is from a time when I didn't have my camera with me, so I said, "Well, I'll just have to use my memory."


And sometimes my memory turns out better than any photograph ever could have. ;)

A few years ago, in January, I was driving between Las Vegas and Pahrump, NV. I'd gone over a snowy pass and was driving through high desert with heavy skies, grim mountains, and empty desert covered with joshua trees. There were no houses or fences and hardly any other cars. I'd been driving for about two hours when something strange appeared in the distance. As I approached at 80+ mph, I realized it was huge joshua tree covered in red Christmas balls. Very strange and surreal. I knew I should stop and take pictures. But a little voice said, "Let it go." And I did. The tree seemed almost sacred in its misplaced randomness. And I decided it was better to leave it there and not to try to capture it. A photo just couldn't have conveyed the experience. So I just kept my foot on the gas, logged the memory, and kept the story. I don't know if the story is better than a photo would have been. And part of me whishes I'd stopped and taken a picture. But, for the most part, I think I did the right thing.

Interesting story, John. I guess there have been times when I didn't shoot something for whatever reason and just the experience itself has been enough. If I haven't had a camera with me or it's just been something that really wouldn't be possible to photograph well, then I've learned to just enjoy what I'm seeing - and been grateful for realizing that moment.

Where I work I usually have access to at least one digital camera daily. So I'm set. I just occasionally hope that one of those cameras is a Cannon EOS Digital Rebel.

I share everyone's sentiments wholeheartedly. That is pretty much what I had to do this morning: take a mental picture and move on. I'm sure that each of us has thousands more memories then we do negatives to match them, and sometimes, as John said, we choose the memories over taking the shot. Having been a sailor for most of my life, I can honestly say that I have witnessed some of the most breathtaking (and frightening) events of my life on the ocean. 99% of these times I had my camera within arm's reach. 70% of those times I left the camera right where it was.

This morning was one of those times when I wish I had a camera with me, but I ended up staring out the window, remembering the scene for what it was.
Of course, there have been those times when I have simply missed having a camera, period, like when my Rebel broke down in Mexico, a week into my month-long trip. :rolleyes:

-chris

Today was a good morning on the way to work.
Mist hanging in the valleys, low cloud/fog over the hills, a pale orange sun more like the moon.
I just watched the light change on the way to work.

Why?
Largely because being part of these forums (I feel a part of it anyhow) has made me SEE things differently and I have to say, to everyone, it's ALL YOUR FAULT !

P.S. that's a good thing :)