This is a philosophical tip, but an important one! The difference between "looking" and "seeing" is vast and will make all the difference in your photos.

Georgia O'Keeffe spent much of her life about fifty miles west of us painting. Much of her best known work was large paintings of flowers and she had this to say about that;

"A flower is relatively small. Everyone has many associations with a flower — the idea of flowers. You put out your hand to touch the flower — lean forward to smell it — maybe touch it with your lips almost without thinking — or give it to someone to please them. Still — in a way — nobody sees a flower — really — it is so small — we haven't time — and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time. If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small.

So I said to myself — I'll paint what I see — what the flower is to me but I'll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it — I will make even busy New-Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers."

It takes time to see!

Charley

next time, cameras

Only a few decades ago, we lived mostly free of the strange tension between the desire to enjoy something and the desire to document it. Because we did so much less documenting, we must have been much better at enjoying sensory experiences as they happened, since we had no recourse to a "captured" version later. Before photography and videography became a reflex, it must have been exceedingly obvious—too obvious to even think about it—that the only time you can enjoy an experience is when it's happening.

But nothing can be saved for later. We can make images but we can't capture experiences.

Think of how many photos of sunsets have truly mesmerized you, and how many times you've stopped in your tracks for the real thing. We can create as many records and depictions of life as we want. But it's life itself that we actually appreciate, and life can't be saved for later.

I'm trying to re-interpret that "photo opportunity" feeling as an opportunity to enjoy something that's only happening here and now. If we can see a sunset, or a perfect morning walk, or any other beautiful moment, as something that simply can't be saved, then we're free to drink it in till it's gone.

I am going to continue to take photos, but I am going to try and stay in the moment more.

Charley

I like this tip! I've gotten to the point now when we travel that I take very few photographs. Truth be told, I seldom went back on looked at my travel pics and it interrupted just experiencing the moments.