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Five reasons to leave your camera at home
When packing for that dream trip, a camera is usually high on the list of essential items. Actually, it's not as important as some people think. Here are five reasons to leave your camera at home.One less thing to worry about
It puts a barrier between you and the people
Nothing makes you stand out more than pointing a camera at a complete stranger. An unsuspecting market stall owner or farmer or palace guard is busy trying to do his or her job, and suddenly some tourist comes along and sticks a big lens in their face. Not a good way to get the locals to warm up to you. In some places, posing for photos has become a business and you'll be promptly asked for cash after you take a shot, or be badgered by flocks of children asking for their photo to be taken. Some countries have strict rules about what you can photograph. I once got told off by a cop in Tehran because I took a photo of a statue. The statue was fine, but including the post office behind it was forbidden because it was a government building. With no camera in sight, you'll get a lot less harassment.
Really, does anyone care?
There's nothing quite as boring as looking at someone else's holiday snaps. Oh sure, your family and friends will make admiring noises and ask to see more, but that's because they like you. They'd like you more if you closed the photo album or computer and took them out for a drink.
It can interfere with the moment
When my wife and I attended an archaeology conference in Oxford, we and the other participants got invited to walk among the stones of Stonehenge at dawn. As the sun rose between two of the standing stones it cast an eerie glow through the mist. Everyone hurried to take a picture while I stood there in awe. The conditions were such that nobody got a perfect shot. I ended up with the best memory of the event, still vivid after seven years, because I was actually looking at the sunrise instead of trying to capture it. (Full disclosure: this was mostly due to the fact that my wife was holding our camera at that moment, otherwise it would be her bragging right now.)
Over at Postsecret, where people send in heartfelt messages and confessions on anonymous postcards, someone who says he plays Mickey Mouse at Disneyland tells parents not to rush over and take a picture of their kid cuddling him because the best part of his job is seeing the kid's face light up at meeting him. Taking a shot distracts both him and the kid from a magical moment. Who are we to disagree with Mickey Mouse?
You can get better pictures elsewhere
Chances are you're not a professional photographer. Even if you are, when you're on vacation you probably don't have the time or inclination to take professional quality photos anyway. The pros work under ideal conditions with expensive equipment, and often wait hours, days, or even weeks for the perfect shot. Benefit from and reward their labor by buying postcards and coffee table books full of amazing images of the places you've been. Or check out our Photo of the Day section.
So when you're packing for your next vacation, rethink what you're putting in your bags. Your trip might just be the better for it.
There's nothing quite as boring as looking at someone else's holiday snaps. Oh sure, your family and friends will make admiring noises and ask to see more, but that's because they like you. They'd like you more if you closed the photo album or computer and took them out for a drink.
It can interfere with the moment
When my wife and I attended an archaeology conference in Oxford, we and the other participants got invited to walk among the stones of Stonehenge at dawn. As the sun rose between two of the standing stones it cast an eerie glow through the mist. Everyone hurried to take a picture while I stood there in awe. The conditions were such that nobody got a perfect shot. I ended up with the best memory of the event, still vivid after seven years, because I was actually looking at the sunrise instead of trying to capture it. (Full disclosure: this was mostly due to the fact that my wife was holding our camera at that moment, otherwise it would be her bragging right now.)
Over at Postsecret, where people send in heartfelt messages and confessions on anonymous postcards, someone who says he plays Mickey Mouse at Disneyland tells parents not to rush over and take a picture of their kid cuddling him because the best part of his job is seeing the kid's face light up at meeting him. Taking a shot distracts both him and the kid from a magical moment. Who are we to disagree with Mickey Mouse?
You can get better pictures elsewhere
Chances are you're not a professional photographer. Even if you are, when you're on vacation you probably don't have the time or inclination to take professional quality photos anyway. The pros work under ideal conditions with expensive equipment, and often wait hours, days, or even weeks for the perfect shot. Benefit from and reward their labor by buying postcards and coffee table books full of amazing images of the places you've been. Or check out our Photo of the Day section.
So when you're packing for your next vacation, rethink what you're putting in your bags. Your trip might just be the better for it.
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 6)
Cooper Feb 5th 2010 1:46PM
Relax, people. Reread the article and think about what Sean is saying. I generally agree with him. I've been all over the world and there is virtually no tourist site I've ever seen or photographed (think St. Louis Arch, Mount Rushmore, every monument in DC including changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, virtually every Buddhist temple in Thailand, Big Ben, St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, etc. etc. etc.) that hasn't already been photographed by someone with better equipment, a better eye, better lighting, and at a better time of day than I had when I was there. I don't think Sean is saying that you should never attempt to capture your own moments on your own camera - just that people spend far too much time when they're traveling trying to capture images of a location instead of experiencing the place. That often leads people to try to stage moments - and what joy is there in that? Judging from the over-emotional reactions here, I'd say Sean is right on target - people generally put far too much emphasis on trying to take pictures.
Jay Feb 5th 2010 1:54PM
His ideas may work for somebody going to Disney World, but I've yet to see "better pictures somewhere else" of fish I catch and release up in the Arctic. The whole idea behind taking pictures is to preserve unique moments that are important to you personally. Why does this person bother to go anywhere? He can just pictures somewhere else...
Three Little Bears Feb 5th 2010 2:10PM
Only once did I not take my camera on a trip to the mountains. As I drove down the road, a momma bear with three little cubs following her came out of the trees and onto the street. It was the picture of a lifetime, and there I was without my camera.
Cooper Feb 5th 2010 2:21PM
You were driving, right? What are the odds you could have stopped the car, gotten your camera out of the bag, turned it on, aimed, focused, and shot the bears before they ran off? (That's not even accounting for getting out of the car - which usually results in a dirty shot through the car window.) In the process of even attempting it, you'd have missed the scene and had only a glimpse; now, you have the image burned into your memory. I found myself in a similar situation with a deer standing perfectly in front of a Welcome to Town sign one evening. It was a perfect shot - would have been on the cover of every printed piece that town published for years - but I didn't have my camera and couldn't have gotten the shot from my car anyway. . .
Sean McLachlan Feb 5th 2010 2:27PM
This writer is a total asshole. How dare he challenge my assumptions? He's implying that there are two sides to every issue, when only a complete MORON would ever think there's more than one. He should be FIRED from Gadling and BANNED from the Internet for questioning my preconceptions!
Fishnlawyr Feb 5th 2010 2:37PM
How true..how true... Leave that camera at home.... I took 35 or 40 digital shots of a beautiful sunset on Monterey Bay. I only kept 4 or 5 and had one of them blown up to poster size and have it on my office wall. I could have bought a big poster for less that it cost me to have it printed.
Oh.. and the Golden Gate Bridge? How many of those can one person every take that puts the bridge in a new perspective?
Those 6 or 8 elk in that little herd in a park right outside of Estes Park, CO.... Walgreens sells a good picture of a regal bull bugling for a new mate and it only costs around a dollar and it has space to put an address and stamp on it, too.
How about that silhouette of a woman looking out the window of a local pub in Memphis. The red, blue, and yellow lights above the bar are reflected in the window panes. During a moment of personal reflection into snows of her childhood and looking out at the falling snow in East Memphis, I have a great picture of my wife.
Back to Monterey Bay.... Who really cares who that short woman is leaning up against the rail of a hotel balcony looking out at the wide Pacific? AFter all, she interferes with the view of the waters of the blue Pacific and we all know that we can buy a postcard at the local Walgreens for....yadda...yadda....yadda.....
Instead of having a bunch of postcards and storebought posters on my office wall, I have the picture of that unforgettable red sky as the sun set into the Pacific.
Instead of a post card, I have a picture of that middle-aged Japanese couple excitedly pointing to the Golden Gate Bridge.
The elk???? Since I lay down my shotgun and hunting rifle and picked up a camera, I now have more vivid memories of the majesty of the Rocky Mountains AND its wildlife.
The two pictures of that short little woman looking at Monterey Bay and the falling snow... well, those are two pictures of my wife that could never be replaced, bought, sold, bartered, or traded.
Leave my camera at home???? Don't think so becaue I'm more interested in the person I'm with....in the scene that I'm looking at....and the life that I'm leading and want to enjoy than I am in the selfishishness of devoting all of my time to what I'm seeing at the moment.
Good God, Man... James Barrie once said, "God Gave us memory so that we might have roses in December." Why not take a few pictures so we can look back at those memories in the snows of December?
JD Feb 5th 2010 2:35PM
No problem, bring your camera; bring your gun. Pictures available of everywhere on the internet cannot compare to the pcitures you take of yourself and your own family enjoying a trip. This article is a stupid take on a problem.
Robert Lukey Feb 5th 2010 3:37PM
I completely disagree. On a recent July trip to St. Petersburgh, Russia, I got fabulous candid pictures of the dozens of weddings both in churches and in parks. I even got to be the "official" photographer for one wedding since their photographer got trapped in a car accident. I got to go to the reception and had a grand old time. They sent me Christmas cards and we exchange e-mails regularly. FAR from creating a distance, the camera helped me make wonderful new friends. The writer is presposterous. The camera can be used as a tool to become part of your experience, like walking a dog in Central Park, opens up opportunities to meet people and chat. I met Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick that way walking my dogs in Riverside Park.
Kevin Feb 5th 2010 2:37PM
The so called author of this article, Sean McLachlan, must be the most boring guy to be around. I would imagine you go into his home and there must be no pictures anywhere. After all, a picture would be a memory and you don't want to push your memories onto others (does anyone really care comment?). You know, my wife and I always take our camera. I don't force people to be in the pictures (except maybe the kids lol) and don't force people to view them. We take the pictures to capture the moment and for memories. I feel the article gave one persons opinion and that we should all do with it as we may. Personally I think it's a waste of time writing and publishing it but that's my opinion. Good luck Sean McLachlan and personally, I hope you find better subjects to write about.
Marcie Feb 5th 2010 2:48PM
Isn't a camera supposed to be used for pictures of things you don't see everyday? Leaving your camera at home is like not wanting to take your luggage on a trip because it might get banged up at the airport. I can't imagine what the person who wrote this article was thinking. Your camera is too important to use for pictures....is that the argument? Very odd.
Cooper Feb 5th 2010 3:05PM
I'm going to continue defending this article because people continue to mis-read it. If the point of bringing your camera is to take pictures of stuff you don't see every day, why do people spend vast portions of their vacation time taking pictures of EACH OTHER? They see each other every day, most likely. I don't need to have a picture of my whole clan standing in front of the Alamo to "prove" to anyone that we were there, and just about any picture of the Alamo will remind me of my trip there. Again, I don't think Sean is suggesting that people should never take pictures - only that they stop making picture-taking the focus (no pun intended) of their travels. Unless you are a professional travel photographer, you are presumably traveling for the experience - not the pictures.
Linda Feb 5th 2010 3:00PM
WOW! This is now what I expected to see when I read this article. I was thinking he was going to say "the camera could get broken in travels.., it could get taken by security.." Never did I expect the reasons listed. Although I did get a good laugh at the article, I don't agree.
Seriously, was this article for real?
CCray Feb 5th 2010 3:03PM
I COULDN' T DISAGREE more!!!! I wouldn't take anything for the pixs I took in Ireland for 9 days & documented most of them in an album not for anybody else's gratification but my own - I enjoy looking at them....
Steve Feb 5th 2010 3:05PM
This was, without a doubt, the most useless and inane article ever written. As someone who has traveled all over the world, I say never leave you camara or video recorder at home. With all due respect, Sean Lachlan has automatically inducted himself into the "Village Idiot's Hall of Fame." I just wish I could get back the 30 seconds that I wasted reading this inexplicably moronic article.
Sammy Feb 5th 2010 3:07PM
This person must be insane. This is one of the worst ideas ever. I would never ever leave my camera at home. I cherish all the photos I have taken and I'm glad I have them to not only remember the moment but the people in the moment. You don't have to take photos the entire time you are on a vacation but just enough to capture the story of your vacation.This person will regret not taking pictures when he and his children are older.
Cooper Feb 5th 2010 3:24PM
Sean, I had no idea people were so emotionally attached to their cameras and snapshots. . . but I still agree with you. The only change I'd have made to your article might have been a minor adjustment to the headline. I think I might have called the article: "Five Reasons to Consider the Possibility of Leaving Your Camera at Home."
Marlene Burns Feb 5th 2010 3:27PM
Had to chime in on the camera deal. We have done the 7 continents over the years and have a book on each country we have been to. Last week by accident, I didn't have my camera along. (just going to the doctor) 5 miles out of town there was a flock of over 200 sand hill cranes right beside the road. No camera? we were very unhappy not bringing home some super nature with us. Savoured the moment, but wished for the camera!
whb19 Feb 5th 2010 3:27PM
this is bs
jim Feb 5th 2010 3:37PM
That has to be one of the most idiotic, mindless pieces of drivel I have ever read.
GAS Feb 5th 2010 4:30PM
Sean, I have read a few dumb articles here on AOL but this may be the winner. Especially as we get older, pictures bring a flood of memories of particular moments. I can look at photos taken 20 years ago and put myself right back there. Photographs rekindle an experience, otherwise forgotten or dulled by time. So Sean, I just wonder if they make you write this crazy stuff, or do you really believe it?