[Mike Nelson Pedde Participant Posts: 641]

Topical debate

on: January 23, 2020 at 11:38 pm

from TED:

Thoughts?

_____
Mike Nelson Pedde
Victoria, BC
https://www.wolfnowl.com/

[Kevin Raber Silver Member Posts: 1217]

Re: Erin Sullivan: Does photographing a moment steal the experience from you?

Reply #1 on: January 24, 2020 at 10:10 am

Good video sounds a lot like I tell folks on workshops.  I am leaving in a few weeks for our annual Antarctica workshop.  I have been there twenty times running photography workshops.  It’s my favorite place on the planet.  Many of my readers here remember when I got married on a beach there with a ship full of photographers and penguins.  The first time I visited Antarctica I machine-gunned my way through it.  Took a lot of giggage as Jeff Schewe would say.  I was so caught up in the immensity of it, and it is overwhelming that I never felt like I really became part of it.

This changed me as I came home with a ton of great images but I didn’t feel like I connected.  Now, no matter where I go, I slow down to take pictures, but also sit on a rook or a stump and take in the place I am at.  More important I remind myself of the privilege to be at that location and to see it and experience it.  I have been fortunate to have photographed over the last 20 yers locations that are now overflowing with tourists as shown in the video.  I have been to some of those places where I was the only one there or sometimes just a few others.  I was fortunate enough to be in upper Antelope canyon with 6 others and we all spread out and our guide let us stay there for as long as we wanted.  Tripods and Phase One cameras.  Still, I have to take a moment to remember where I was and what I was seeing and to make sure my mind and memory got as good an image as my cameras did. Times have changed and for some reason the whole world goes to iconic locations and they shoot images.  It’s just the way it is now.

So, take your pictures, stop for a minute, lean on your tripod and remember the spot you are at and remind yourself that for many you’ll be back at your desk in a week and becoming part of normal life again.  Cherish the moment in all aspects of life.

[Mike Nelson Pedde Participant Posts: 641]

Re: Erin Sullivan: Does photographing a moment steal the experience from you?

Reply #2 on: January 24, 2020 at 3:53 pm

Well said, Kevin. I wrote this back in 2013 (but I think Erin does a better job of it):

Learning to See… Again.

Mike.

_____
Mike Nelson Pedde
Victoria, BC
https://www.wolfnowl.com/

[Author]

Posts