DIGITAL MANIA

I can say this because I am as guilty as the next guy/gal, but I declare digital cameras a scourge on the landscape of beautiful places.  Smart phones of course are ubiquitous, but really any sort of camera is constantly in motion.

We just returned from a 4 day jaunt up to Victoria BC.  Truly a beautiful city and the scenery on the ferry ride in summer is postcard perfect.  Everyone, from the ferry dock in Washington to the landing at Sidney BC, was taking photos of the islands, the mountains, the water, the birds, the snack bar, their family, friends, selves, card games, pop cans, shoes...

In Victoria, as perfect a photo op as you will find anywhere, it was impossible to find one square foot of tourist space where a camera wasn't raised to shoot a photo.  Never mind Butchart Gardens where we gave up being considerate of not getting in others' photos.  If we stood back and waited for clear passage, we'd still be there.  I always wonder how many strangers' vacation pictures I end up in.  I hope they got my skinny, younger side.

It gets annoying at times.  And don't even get me started on Selfie Sticks.  I feel like we've completely given up any pretense of denying narcissism with those things.  However, I both loathe and love them, truth be told.  I love posting "selfies" to Facebook (this makes me a doofus and roundly ridiculed, I know), but so many are bad because my arms are too short to get any perspective or context.  It's my big goofy head mostly.  And whenever Hub does a selfie of both of us, it takes on a weird fish eye look with his head always enormous and mine miniscule.  Maybe we don't have the technique down, but I sort of think the Selfie Stick would be a handy gadget to have along -- like a tripod.  But, no, Selfie Sticks are reviled as crass, while tripods are respected as a tool of a serious photographer.   So, we haven't added one of those sticks to our gear just yet.   Oh, and I ran across this on Facebook -- pretty funny! https://www.facebook.com/CollegeHumor/videos/10153046692882807/?fref=nf


We took a ton of photos in Victoria, of course.  With digital you can take dozens of photos of the exact same thing and theoretically get home and wade through them, keeping the very best of the lot.  However, we never get to the weeding through part.  I bet we have, from various locations throughout our travels, about 500 sunset photos.  They look, well, about the same.  Over mountains, buildings, oceans...beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows.  But really?  Did we have to keep clicking away as the sun descended to the horizon as if this nightly event needed to be recorded second by second at every locale we've visited?  No.  Of course not.  But if you can, you do.  And then there they are.  We were much more selective when we were shooting film that we had to pay to be developed!

This is true of every person with a camera to their eye.  They shoot indiscriminately, everything in sight.  And the posing!  We have become so camera-aware that seeing people "strike a pose" like a model in a magazine layout has become the norm too.  Used to be there'd be a person or group standing in front of a national monument, looking windblown, a little on the disheveled side, maybe a stain on their shirt, grinning self-consciously at whoever was holding the Brownie Instamatic.   No more.  Now there are model-worthy poses with hands on hips, heads turned just so, fingers pointing, sunglasses on...now try one with them off... heads thrown back, bust thrust out like a pin-up girl.  We take a shot and immediately look at it to see if we approve.  If not?  It's "Take Two".  Or three.  Or more.

Like I said, I am guilty too.  I write every word of this post based on my own desire for getting a
good shot.  It just seems when it's being done en mass that the absurdity of it all is more apparent.  I won't stop doing it.  Neither will anyone else.  But really?  I remind myself and you: Let's also take a moment to just capture the "real imperfection" of us and not go for the professional shot every time.  Also, it might be quite a thrill to see the scenery around us as marvels of man and nature and not as a picture to be captured, downloaded, and forgotten until the next time we see a sunset or an Empress Hotel.

At least, that's the view from here...