Put your camera away

© 2010 Simon Hucko

I realize that's a pretty strange title for a post on a photography blog, but sometimes it's good to just put your camera away. I took a trip to Boston with my wife last weekend to visit her sister and see the sites (and most importantly, eat the seafood). I of course brought my camera, and it came with me everywhere we went, but it spent most of the time safely tucked away in my camera bag. That's not to say that I couldn't access it quickly if I wanted to - it takes a matter of seconds for me to get the camera out and ready to shoot - but by not having it hanging around my shoulder or in my hands I didn't feel the compulsive need to take a photo of every semi-interesting thing that passed by. The net result was a great in-the-moment weekend and a high keeper ratio (I don't remember the exact numbers, but I think I shot around 75 frames, 29 of which will make their way to facebook). Most of the deleted shots were part of the short bursts I was shooting in the science museum to battle camera shake and subject movement ('twas dark in there).

The moral of the story is that you don't need to spend every minute of a vacation or event with a camera glued to your face. I'm not saying that you shouldn't bring a camera, but consider keeping it put away and only pulling it out for photo-worthy moments. Sure, you might miss a few quick grab shots, but the payoff is not having to go through your photos after the fact to find out if you had a good time or not.

~S

[title of blog] on flickr