Less is More… Stop Shooting So Damn Much!

There is this one scene in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” between actors Sean Penn and Ben Stiller that epitomizes a concept that I think is often forgotten among photographers as well as people just taking pics. Not every memory needs to be captured by a camera. Not every moment needs to be immortalized on a “memory” stick. There are some instances when the camera does more harm than good. To paraphrase Sean Penn’s character in the embedded video, “The camera can be a distraction.” And that’s what I want to talk about a little bit here.

I’ve had a few moments like this when I chose not to bring my camera on a trip. I actually got vilified mainly because, “I was wasting opportunities…” and “I may never get to return to this place…” and so forth. That’s not the way I looked at it. There have been more than one occasion of these instances, but in this particular situation, I wanted to enjoy my time with a friend who wasn’t a photographer and I didn’t want to spend all my time “needing to get the shot”. Otherwise, I would have ended up neglecting the companionship for which I traveled there for in the first place.

Simplicity, Copyright 2010 Terrell Neasley

Here’s another reason you don’t need to take a picture of everything. Petapixel.com once did a post on their popular blog an article by the British Psychological Society that they titled, “Simply Snapping a Photo Harms Your Memories of Things, Study Finds“. Now their study requires a bit more research, I’m sure. They use a base their finding, per the article, based on a sample size of 50 undergraduate students. 5000 students would have been more convincing, but the findings are nonetheless comparable to my own experiences, albeit not as measurable scientifically.

Put the damn camera down! I’ve talked about this before. Look around yourself and just enjoy the moment for what it is. At the very least, slow down. Get a few shots and stop. Blasting on rapid fire mode trying to capture everything tends to make you lose the gift of the memory and here are three reasons why this makes sense:

One… Repetitively speaking, your mind won’t feel the need to remember something you know is already recorded when you establish this as a habit. It takes the work away from the brain. No need to commit a visual to long term memory when you think you’ve captured every aspect of it with 312 shots of one scene.

TWO… Odds are, you’re never gonna go back and look at those pics. They’ll stay on your SD card or computer hard drive. And there’s a stronger propensity that nobody else is going to want to look at those pics even if you did pull them out. Think about it. NOBODY CARES! Who wants to sit and mull through all 1,538 of your vacation photos. After a while, even you’ll get tired of the 11th image of the same scene and start fast forwarding through to find the good ones. And if you look like you’re bored, why should anybody else sit through them.

And Three… You create so much extra work for yourself. When you download all those filled-to-capacity SD cards, or whatever storage media you are using, a few things take place. You realize you have to go through all those photos! AND now you have clogged up your hard drive with a bunch of nonsense. A few months down the road, you’ll be at your max capacity on your hard drive and then going through folders to see what shots you can eliminate. Save your brain the stress and your hard drive the unnecessary wear. 

Copyright 2012 Terrell Neasley

Here is one more reason why you won’t remember so well and why the camera can be a distraction. When the camera comes between you and a memory, think about why you actually see versus what the camera sees. When you take in a moment without the camera, you have almost a 180 hemisphere of sight in front of you. Not only that, but ALL of your senses can become engaged in that moment. You remember the aroma of the honeysuckle that has completely engulfed the fence that your kids are playing next to in a mud puddle. You can hear the low hum of all the bees and wonder if you should have the kids play elsewhere, but rationalize that you are being over-protective until the youngest one grabs a bee and is stung.

Copyright 2012 Terrell Neasley

All that makes for a story and engraves that memory in your brain. You are totally engrossed in that moment and are capturing information using all your senses. Now try to think of that same scene but now, close off all your senses except for your sight, because that’s the only one you are paying attention to. Then take an empty paper towel roll and view that same scene looking through it. Can you visualize that? How much information is actually being recorded to your brain? Not much! You’ve limited yourself to tunnel vision and sounds and smells have no relevancy any more.

And show some respect, like my friend Marci in a museum. Do you really need to take pics of someone else’s art? Put the camera down. Use your eyes. Record it to your brain. Its not your responsibility to have something to show the next guy. Let them come to the museum on their own and experience it in person. Your job isn’t to record and share with the world for sake of posterity. If anything, come back with a story! Tell that! Motivate others to visit that museum!

Shoot less. Otherwise you cheat yourself.