Viewfinder

Oaks Park, Portland, Oregon; July 5, 2009

I was talking to Andy yesterday as we were eating lunch in the park about how oddly lost I'd felt the day before, at the Fourth of July parade in Lake Oswego, without my camera. It was one of the few times I could remember feeling that way without the camera — but then again, I frequently have a camera with me, so I don't have to feel that way very often — and I was trying to find a metaphor. Not having the camera was almost like not being able to write. Actually, it was like not being able to explain. I don't like it when I can't show you what I see. This was the picnic table and the tree, with one glowing lightbulb in its branches, on Sunday. I don't have a picture of the tiny little girl in the wagon with the red, white, and blue star painted on her face, glaring at me (I have no idea why), on Sat.

How grateful I am for that freedom, the freedom to try to explain.

Comments

[Rebekah]

I feel the same way without my camera. But it's too big to fit in smaller purses. So, instead of buying a smaller camera ($100+), I have opted for buying bigger purses($20)!

[Katie]

I never would have understood that feeling before I started my blog. Now, if I don't have my camera, it is like walking about with one arm. Like, what good it is to see that beautiful/strange/mysterious thing, if I cannot record it. I also have trouble writing about an experience if there are no pictures to illustrate. As if the sharing cannot really be complete without a visual representation. It is an odd new feeling for me.

[Claire]

You write so beautifully that we can imagine what it was like being there, seeing what you see. My Dad always, always had a camera on him - he said he felt lost when he didn't.x

[Hungarican Stephanie]

I can totally understand this feeling.

[Susie Sears Taylor]

I understand the feeling. Our daughter gave us a camera with all the gadgets which frightened me at first...now I love it. Expecially being able to see the pictures on the tv screen and being able to delete! Delete is the best thing anyone ever invented for the aspiring photographer. Snap a picture and you have captured time. Something we are rapidly running out of each moment...enjoy the moments and keep snapping.

[Shannon]

I'm with all the other "lost without a camera" people. No matter how well I write it, my blog "stories" just aren't complete if I can't show people what I saw/what I'm writing about. And sometimes, a whole post is just pictures, because they say it better than I ever could with words.

[Grace]

It's always the times you don't have your camera that you see/have the "that would be a perfect picture!" moment. I feel so helpless without my camera. Nice metaphor- comparing it to not being able to write.

[Amanda]

I agree. Sometimes words just can't explain.

Saturday night my husband and I went to a neighbors house for a party. Everyone left around 10:00. Steve and I weren't quite ready to go home. We sort of live in the country, and we could hear fireworks in the distance. So we hopped in his truck and went down a dirt road to see the fireworks over the hills. A photo probably would have been perfect, because I can't explain the feeling I had. It was like being in an old romantic movie. All I could write in my post is that I'm a country girl at heart. I kept saying to myself (in my mind) "Alicia would know exactly how to describe this feeling."

[Jan]

I saw a wonderful sermon on Sunday by David Barton about each founding father and how America was built on Christianity. . . and how that fact has been removed from our children's school books. I understand about not being able to blog -- when FPL took my hard drive out I was w/o a computer for days -- not being able to read the blogs or to blog. I finally got a loaner for the rest of the days. The things we do, sometimes, we take for granted. Blessings, Jan

[Jessie Heninger]

wow you guys are all amazing. I like taking pictures and I like keeping history but I ALWAYS forget. I have a great camera (I bought the one Alicia talks about in her book) and a brand new baby you would think I would be a picture fool, but alas I can't seem to get to it in time, remember it on trips or upload those photos until there are so many it's scary. I'll keep trying you all inspire me.

[geek+nerd]

Oh I feel that way too! My husband is in a band and they are doing their first U.S. tour right now. I forced him to take my nice Nikon camera that I use for blogging, since he's traveling all over...however my blog looks so sad. I made a beautiful plate for my mom for Christmas yesterday, and I have a crappy webcam photo of it up. UGH. I can't wait to have full blogging power back!

[Heather]

I just have a point-and-shoot but I still feel lost without my camera. I recently arrived at a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the park and realized I'd forgotten it. My friend said, "You can't take pictures of the show; what is there to photograph?"
At that moment we were standing on a bridge over a pond ringed with willows at the "magic hour" when the light is "just so"... What didn't I want to photograph?
It's a serious addiction and one I'm glad to learn I'm not alone in. :)

[Polly]

I also feel lost without my camera these days, so I try to always have it in my (thankfully roomy) handbag. The last couple of times I've gone out to eat I've been kicking myself I didn't photograph the food, when I tell people this they look at me like I'm crazy but I love to photograph everything!

[Dawn]

Sometimes it feels like I encounter the most beautiful things when I don't have my camera with me; then I promise myself to soak it in and remember it in my heart.

I get a similar feeling when I see or experience something wonderful without my husband...I immediately think, "I wish he were here to see it, too."

[vivian]

funny how we bloggers are about our cameras.. I hate being with out mine!
have a great week!
vivian

[Marcia]

After reading and appreciating your blog for such a long time, it seemed like I should take a moment to tell you just how much I enjoy your writing, your photos, and your humor. For someone who is almost always without a camera, your pictures are an inspiration. (You know, the kind that makes you decide you want to quit your job and spend all of your time learning to take photos that look just like that!) Even without photos, your words say it all. Couldn’t we all just picture the one light bulb and the tiny, glaring little girl?!

[Kelly]

I was just thinking about this very thing the other day. Our camera is larger than fits into my small purse and I have been searching far and wide for a great little camera that takes blog worthy photos. I hate not having a camera everywhere I go. Did you glare back? ~Kelly

unDeniably Domestic

[The Ardent Thread]

I was the same when my children were small, especially when we lived in southern England. There were simply too many opportunities to capture a little random beauty or wonder. I spent all my pocket money (such as it was) on film developing and sent copies home to the grandparents in the US.

Thank goodness for digital photography! Think of all the money and resources we all save now, plus how easy it is to share so much of the world with each other.

[Sara]

Very sweet view!

[Sarah]

I feel the same way. Once my husband had left the camera bag on the kitchen table when we were on the way to the coast. We realized almost at tillamook. I wanted to cry I wanted to turn around.. luckily I was able to borrow a camera but its amazing what a extension of myself it has become and how naked I feel without it.

[lizbon]

I know exactly how you feel. If they ever develop a contact-lens camera, I will be first in line at the eye doc.

[abeachcottage]

I love my point and shoot but I'm feeling a new one coming on...

[The Curious Cat]

I know how you feel, I deliberately didn't take my camera out on Saturday night and immediately regretted it - thank goodness for camera phones! Not quite the same but it will suffice! :) xxx

[Cyndi]

Even though the picnic area doesn't look the same as it did, I love having you explain it to us. It makes it sort of like a story, we each get to imagine in our own minds what it may have looked like. I wish I not only had a nice camera...but knew how to use it! :)

[jess]

I totally get what you're saying...Some people feel naked without their makeup..others feel uncomplete without their camera.
'Cause lets face it... the world does look a whole lot different through a viewfinder....and you life and world looks amazing Alicia;)