Photography has become intrinsically linked to tourism, both positively and negatively. It's difficult to balance the desire to record an experience with the feeling that photography gets in the way of truly experiencing the moment. Susan Sontag, quoted by Potts, describes tourist photography as a defense mechanism: “Most tourists feel compelled to put the camera between themselves and whatever is remarkable that they encounter. Unsure of other responses, they take a picture.”
source: orbific.com
Amazing comments. And very true. There is a natural duality travelling with Camera. Sometimes you get so focused on taking the snapshot of your life you don't experience the Experience. You just look into the viewfinder and don't care about the greatness, sadness, happiness or whatever feeling is there, right now, just at that moment you press the shutter button.
Daily life just passes you by.
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| Bangkok, outside near Siam Square |
There was no fight that day; apart from the mandatory skirmish when the leading 50 protesters had to start pushing the cops. Nothing more, the protesters all sat down, singing and holding their speeches for about an hour and then they all started to leave. Then I saw "it" - the Kodak moment. A troop of cops, all in their black riot gear forming a several rows. They turned all right and started marching out with military discipline yelling out their marching song. Then from a bakery, a cop and sales girl came out - he kissed the girl on the cheek and with two large pink boxes of donuts he ran to the marching police troop. The end rows gracefully split and allowing him to be swallowed up by the troops and then it was just another black marching mass of fierce warriors.. with two small spots of pink.
I had no camera with me... everything from this event is burned into my mind. I remember every detail as it was yesterday. But to me.. the cops in black, the two pink boxes and the graceful handling of integrating the odd cop out.. would probably have been the snap of my life. Now, I just keep the memory online in my head.
Just recently I went over some old photos I have.. analog photography made you take less snaps due to the costs of having the film developed and prints made. I looked at my trip to Java and I do remember a lot of things.. especially how the locals tried to fish Flying Dogs with kites on a desolate beach on southern Java. But when I saw the photos, I remembered other things.. "yeah.. I took that trip on the river, going up to that waterfall, oh.. yeay and that big frigging lizard and oh.. yes, that happened as well". But then I was more focused on the camera then to experience the Experience.
When you are "older" and look at the photos, most of what you saw and did do come back to you so to keep your memories in an "offline" storage mode - it is great. But without the camera, I do think I would have better and fonder memories.. and I would not have forgotten that wonderful waterfall in the jungles of Java as quickly as I have.
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| Macau |
Try to experience next time.. it do beat the photo in the long run...
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