taking pictures

Since my favorite filmmaker died yesterday I thought I'd reflect on photography, more specifically taking pictures while you travel. 

Taking pictures can be a tricky thing when you're travelling. On the one hand you feel like you should take pictures of everything to be able to remember every detail once you get back home but once you've taken these pictures you never ,or rarely, look at them. On the other hand you decide not to take any pictures and "live in the moment" instead but then regret not having taken pictures because you don't have any memories. Unfortunately, our phones have made these two traps much more common. Taking pictures has become so easy that we over consume its power or it easily distracts us from real life. 

How to avoid that? Bring a small camera with you. Of course, use your phone to take some pics (my favorite ones are usually the super random ones) but when you really want to capture a moment take out your camera, breathe out, think about it and take a picture. One of the best thing about old film photography is that you actually think about your picture, you choose what is included and what is not and best of all you develop them and look at them every once in a while. However this is an expensive exercise so instead just use a normal digital camera, doesn't have to be fancy, but think about what you photograph and once you get home: print them all out and make an album. This way you'll have a physical memory of your best moments. 

One my biggest fears while travelling is losing or breaking my stuff. That's why I would recommend using a very small and portable camera that you can keep in your tote bag all the time. Something very light and convenient. I'm using my dads camera and its perfect, I've been enjoying it so much: it's a Nikon Nikkor 1. 

And my last tip would be to take videos or keep your live setting on (for those with iPhones). The whole purpose of videography is to mimic real life so use that and mimic life. When you'll eventually look back at your pictures you'll see that one video: with the people talking in the back, the leaves on the trees falling down from the sky, the waves crashing on the shore or the kid running past that would have messed up your picture but right now is just perfect. 

A tiny glimpse from the past that makes your present life a little brighter. 

"photography is truth. And cinema is truth twenty four times a second."- JL Godard

here are some of my favorite camera pics from my travel: