From a distance we could see the sky turning fuschia and orange as the sun sank, but in the city there was no way to see the extent.
Driving to the riverbank the colors just intensified, turning the bend the river widened out to the sea and both met the horizon in a fury of acid orange and black silhouettes. Awe-inspiring.
It occurred to me that I should have brought my camera but then I remembered why I usually don’t. Looking through a camera you often stop looking. It becomes more about how to capture the image and less about the experience, a much superficial mode of attention-paying.
It’s like I’ve seen at shows with kids whipping out their cameras and cellphones for a picture, and I’ve noticed it myself too: You focus on the camera and check out of the actual participation in the concert. You stop looking and half the time you stop hearing. And the pic gets uploaded and never looked at again, effectively losing the image while you already lost the experience getting the image.
Which is why I usually leave the camera at home unless I have a specific planned use for it. I’d rather look up and around than through the lens.
