Slowing down

With only a month and a half of school left, I am finding myself thinking about what I am missing while I have been in Montana. I spent the last few days in Glacier with my Dad. The park is one of the most amazing places on Earth yet people still barely slow down notice. Is life that busy that even your vacation can't be appreciated? I can't believe how so few people stop and just take it all in.

Every time I was photographing, at least a dozen people slow down enough to hop out of the car snap a photo and drive away. Will that one photo be your memory that lasts you your entire life? I hope not but, since they didn't stop and look, it may have to be their memory.

I have the opposite problem, along with a lot of other photographers I know. We spend all the time there but don't stop working. It's always looking for the next composition or anticipating what is going to happen, never just appreciating what's sitting in front of us. I have to consciously make myself put my camera down sometimes to make myself grasp whatever I am photographing. How can you capture the beauty of a landscape without actually looking at it? I can't.

Next time you are somewhere that you would like to remember, don't pull out your camera, just stop and take your time. Take in all the detail and remember it. Make it an experience instead of a moment.