A picture is worth a thousand words, but are a thousand pictures worth a single lost moment of experience?

[nathancraver]

I first started really getting into photography about 5 years ago while I was in the Navy. I began noticing after about two

years, that my perspective on the world was starting to change. I started to take notice of small seemingly unimportant

things and seeing everything in a new light. Though I am a novice compared to a lot of people on this site who have

been doing this for many years, in my 5 years of photography experience I have come to appreciate things like natural

beauty and human creativity in ways I never could have imagined before. And the best part is, it will only grow stronger

as the years progress, and for that, I would not trade anything in the world. I think that pursuing photography rather

heavily would not make you miss out on anything in life. Contrarily, imagine what those who are so consumed by other

trivial things like jobs, playing video games, Myspace, TV, tabloid magazines, etc. are missing out on what really

matters. We must maintain a balance so that we don't get overly consumed and shut other people and necessities out of

our lives. Photography is foremost an art of sharing. Since this is a philosophical discussion; do you think that we as

humanity are supposed to spend our lives in monotonous routine: get up, go to work, hate job, come home, pay bills, go

to bed.... I think we should take more time to "stop and smell the roses" as the old cliche goes, and even take pictures

of them so we can remind ourselves, as well as share with others, how truly beautiful those roses really are. Just my 2

cents, but I might get a refund... : )

 

Nathan

[michaellinder]

Experiences are not events that simply happen to human beings. Human beings play an active role in structuring their experiences. This is where the camera comes into play. It simply is another device by which people structure experience. From this point of view, therefore, it makes no sense to think that taking a photograph somehow causes a person to "lose" an experience.