To Go or Not to Go …

To go, or not to go …. The Photographic Conundrum Evaluation

Day trips, long weekends, week-long photography trips and local spots – to go or not to go – that is the question. Whether it is easier to sit on the couch and flip through the sports and cooking channels – or charge up one’s batteries and head outdoors – is that not the dilemma that plagues the minds of all photographers? Did Aristotle, Plato, or Confucius think about these things too? Of course not, they were not photographers. How can you expect them to understand?

 

You see for some photography is a hobby while for others more of an addiction. Getting out with a camera in hand is more important to the latter than laying on the couch and knowing the outcome of a game or whether the gazpacho was perfect. Certainly more important than dinner out with the in-laws! To go or not to go is not the question to them – it is where to go?

 

The opportunity to get great images can come from any of the types of trips mentioned above. You don’t need to travel really far or for long to find places where great images can be created. Your local botanic garden or park, urban areas of your city or a nearby event all hold promise if you are willing to get up and out. The benefits of getting out with a camera in hand are far more than most people realize.

 

To begin with, the physical activity of getting out and moving around far out-weigh being sedentary and indoors. By being outdoors you soak up some Vitamin D and keep your metabolism up and burning off the in-laws garlic mashed potatoes. (It turns out you can’t skip all dinners with the in-laws.) You will also see things in a new way and become more aware of what is around you by being out and in a creative mindset looking for images.

 

That brings us to another benefit of being out and in a creative mindset – it stops your mind from obsessing on everyday life events. Being out and looking through the viewfinder of a camera causes your mind to focus and cut ties to everything else. Your sense of time melts away like a Dali timepiece and your mental state goes Zen. You are One with the Creative Zone and Zen-like. That and you don’t feel as stressed afterwards either.

 

Getting out and creating new images brings about a sense of having created something. There’s nothing quite like creating an image you really like to make you feel that you have accomplished something. That you have control over some aspect of Life and you alone did it. It may be that it was really Nikon, Epson, Really Right Stuff and others that made it possible – but YOU made it happen.

 

Now get off the couch, turn off the TV and get those batteries charged – your camera and YOURS!