The Weight of the Camera

When Taylor graduated from Berkeley High she wanted a senior page in the yearbook.  This is a page designed by the person with commentary and photos and whatnot of their choosing.  Taylor goes through the family pictures looking for ones of herself growing up.
She gets very angry with me.  "Dad, you're a professional photographer and I don't have photos of me!"
Well, she had every right to be angry but not surprised for I've been chanting my mantra her entire life and she knew it well.

The camera gets in the way of life.

I would much rather be totally involved in something rather than looking at it through a tiny eyepiece.  I would much rather experience her blowing out the candles on her birthday cake and not holding something up to my face.  Can you teach someone to ride a bike with a camera in your hand?
Saying goodbye on the first day of school?

So when Taylor sunk the winning basket in the championship game in eighth grade I was there.  Totally there.  Watched the arc of the ball, the swish, the hollering, the swarming....everything.  Would rather have those real memories than seeing it through prisms and 6 pieces of glass.

In fact I was there for every single game she ever played, all the way through High School. And most of the practices.  Being There.

Just got back from a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico.  Beautiful, stimulating for all the senses place.  Took a camera with me but man, the weight of taking photos was too much for the most part.  I took what I needed but felt like to do more would be less.  So I didn't.  The camera can get in the way of life if you let it.

High in the mountains in the tiny pueblo of Latuvi I sat on a bench and watched the village's girl basketball team practice.  Sat there for an hour.  Listened to rhythmic kerwhap of the ball on the concrete, the coach giving instructions, the chatter of the girls, the roosters, the burros braying.  Watched the sun set, smelled the evening cooking wafting.
And thought...about the oneness of it all.

Last year we traveled through the south of Turkey and a bit in Greece.  Winter time.  On the island of Karpothos, the guy who was woken up by us on a Sunday morning to rent a car from says we're the only tourists on the island.  We find a place in Diafini to stay and go down to the only open taverna for a drink and a bite.  It's a Friday night. The taverna has some unusual for me musical instruments sitting on some tables so I do what I do best and start to ask the owner some questions....and listen.
Turns out he's a somewhat known musician in Greece but decided to move back to Diafini and teach traditional instruments and songs to the young of the village.
Soon, the teenagers of the town start to wander in.  He says we have some special guests tonight and we sit and watch him instruct and they give a performance.  You sit and listen and you watch and you take it in.  You don't photograph it.  You think about the oneness of it all. Be Here.

The same the world over

ps.  Not to say you can't live life when you're photographing it.  I remember once on a beach where there was no separation.  To shoot was to live.
Also not saying I don't shoot as a way of experiencing life.  I do.
But it's different.