There is a scene in the movie Zoolander where the Reporter
Matilda quotes an Aboriginal Legend about how they believe that every time a
picture is taken of you it may steal part of your soul. She subsequently asks Zoolander
what he thinks about this as someone who gets his picture taken for a living,
he responds in a classic Zoolander fashion and she is left confounded at his
profound lack of intelligence. It is hilarious.
While in no way do I believe that photography can steal
your soul, I do believe that the Abodiginals quoted by
Matilda may have been on to something.
If you happen to be a child of the 80’s or earlier you will
remember people going on vacation, taking their Kodak camera and 6 extra rolls
of film and coming back to share them in your living room. Sitting around with
family and friends whether that be through an album you threw together or if
you’re old enough, clicking through a clunker of a projector. It was in fact a
part of the vacation experience. You could probably call it the after party? With open faced buns. There is something about sharing your experiences with
loved ones. Telling them about where you’ve been so they can laugh with you, share
similar stories with you, and maybe be a little jealous of you. Today, this
whole vacation rite of passage is currently done on social media. Except not at
all, besides maybe the jealousy part.
Gathering is a dying concept. Actually I think connecting
with people in general has been on the decline. Everything is on a computer or
automated in some way, quick and easy. If you know me you know that I prefer
people. I will always choose to go to the teller instead of the ATM, to catch
up with someone in person instead of phone or text, and just experiences in
general I find more enjoyable with others.
There are two reasons why I left my camera at home when I
went to New York as well as why I am not laying out all the exciting details in
a new entry of my travel blog.
First is that my philosophy on travelling is slowly
changing. I’m tired of living behind a lens. Taking a million pictures of
everything I encounter just to have something to look at later or to make
everyone else jealous.
Yes I cheated and Instagrammed from my phone… get over it. I
like it.
I am choosing more and more when I travel to live in the
moment and own the experience for the here and now.
The second reason is that I want to talk to you. If you look
at all my pictures and read about all my experiences on a blog, you have no
reason to have an actual conversation with me about my trip. No reason for you
to meet up with me and ask about that time I saw Sting, two feet in front of
me. We no longer have an excuse to gather and connect because you already know
everything I’m doing with a few short clicks sitting on your computer. And I
don’t like that.
I think that every time you pull out your camera, or every
blog you post about your trip, takes away from the vacation experience.
So this is me not blogging about New York.
See you around.
