A beautiful ode (?) to photography

Hyubie

Top Veteran
Location
Massachusetts
I loved this story. Especially poignant was when he said he realized how postcards didn't make him remember his London, his Paris, or his Istanbul. Sometimes amidst all this gear-hunting, it is nice to be reminded of the why, and not the what. And it is nice to be reminded how lucky we are that we are able to keep mementos we can go back to -- even now I find extreme joy when going back to pictures of my kids just a few years ago -- I can barely remember that they were once that small. Especially delightful is running into a photograph of a moment you already competely forgot, but there it is in your photo.
 
A very nice piece. The bit that struck me was this:

I kept journals, obsessively scribbling my way through my travels, though, when I looked back over them years later, I was dismayed by how interior my experiences were: My writings weren’t about Lisbon, they were about how I felt in Lisbon.

So true of so much 'travel' writing these days, that tells so little about the place and so much, in tiresome unwanted detail, about the writer.
 
I've seen it suggested a number of times to step out from behind the camera, have a good time not taking photos, and just buy a book containing pre-packaged memories of someone else's photos. A camera is in fact one of the best tools to get you out exploring, as well as a device for recording your memories.

I've never quite managed to keep a journal however.
 
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