Capturing a Moment

My first trip to China was three weeks long. During that trip I took enough pictures to fill three large photo albums and I collected enough ticket stubs, brochures and paraphernalia to fill an entire expanding file folder. Looking back now that seems hilarious to me. When I went to Thailand for three weeks in 2001 I took enough pictures to fill one photo album. When I sailed with Semester at Sea – visiting nine countries - I never put a photo album together but took a couple hundred pictures and shared maybe 100 of them on a picture slideshow. I’ve now been gone for 4 months and have visited 8 countries so far this semester and have taken maybe 10 pictures in each port.

I mentioned in my last blog entry that over the years I have moved away from trying to document everything about my travel (and living behind the lens of a camera) and instead focus on soaking in the experience in the moment. I consciously made a decision to not worry about snapping pictures at every turn when I sailed with Semester at Sea. This decision was freeing in many ways. It was very freeing to give up worrying about getting the “best shot”. It helped me to shift from looking for things that would “impress” others or look cool to seeking out things and experiences that were significant and meaningful to me. It’s easier to truly engage in an experience when you are not constantly snapping pictures.

It was also freeing because when I travel abroad I still worry about the ethics and etiquette around taking other people’s pictures. Is it appropriate? Will I offend? Will they want money? Do I look like a total obnoxious, rude tourist? Also – I sometimes feel self centered to ask someone to take my picture in front of this place and that site. Plus who wants to see picture after picture of me standing here and posing there? BORING!

In place of pictures I began writing my emails and now my blog. Writing has challenged me to reflect more about what I am learning and how I am growing through these experiences – pushing me past just spitting out a laundry list of the things I saw and what I did. All good things…..

BUT…as folks came back from their trips to Beijing and started sharing pictures I was able to recognize and talk about the places they had been because I remembered them from my own pictures from that first trip to China. Having pictures is another way to remember your experience, solidify your memories, and jog your memory. It got me wondering if maybe I had gone too far in the other direction – not taking enough pictures. Will I later regret not having more pictures of the friends I’ve made and the places I’ve been? My emails and blogs are great ways to remember and jog my memory (I’ve found myself reading my emails from my SAS voyage more than once during the course of this current journey) but nothing can replace having a snapshot of a place, a sunset, a friend.

This makes me realize that trying to “capture a moment” is trickier than it first seems. I don’t think I’m failing at it but I do think I need to strike a better balance. As I get ready to head into the second half of this journey around the world I think I want to commit to myself to make a more concerted effort to take a few more pictures. I want to be able to share with all of you some of the people and the places that are shaping my life at this moment. Oh and I want to be able to show you that cool shot of me standing on a street in Turkey, riding in a rickshaw in India or climbing Table Mountain in South Africa.