Pictures On A Road Trip
October 2, 2011 § 3 Comments
Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania.
My husband and I took a 3600 mile road trip from New Hampshire to Alabama this summer.
So of course I had planned to take pictures. To bring back home and show to friends and family. As illustrations to go along with the answers to the “Tell me about your trip” question.
Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia.
However I quickly realized that, for me, taking pictures was an ineffective way to gather memories.
My favorite thing to do when I travel is to look. I do not like to read guides, maps, search for road signs or buy souvenirs while I am looking. I can’t do both at the same time and feel that I miss too much that way. Instead I like to have my eyes wide open and try to see as much as I can, from small ephemeral details to large landscapes and big sky.
And I cannot look and take a picture at the same time. The way a photo reporter can.
Looking leads me to hearing, smelling, feeling and sometimes tasting. It is completely a multi-sensory activity, fulfilling and satisfying all at once.
Road Stand. North Carolina
Sometimes the act of taking a picture would give me a sense of removing myself from what I was witnessing.
Nashville Sounds, Nashville, Tennessee,
A small scene or interaction, an interesting looking person, a wild animal. My camera was interfering. Not to mention finding, fumbling with and adjusting the thing itself! Too often the frustration of not being able to fully capture the beauty of a sunset or the scope of a luxuriant forest could ruin the moment and the pleasure of seeing.
Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee.
And pretty much every time, I knew that I could find a perfecly fine photo of what I saw somewhere on line or in a book. So why bother?
Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina.
But out of a futile sense of duty I still snapped a few, only a handful worth keeping.
And I admit that looking at them now does bring back memories…Only this handful is enough to evoke hundreds more.
So no matter how few or bad or un-interesting they may be, I put some in this post just because I had been planning to do so when we hit the road last July…As for the memories, I’ll just recount them when the time comes. They will still be vivid, not faded…
Marchand de Couleurs 
thank you for sharing a “taste” of your trip! your photos are beautiful!
LikeLike
Love this! I also like what you say about the camera getting in the way. I am at the place where I feel naked without a camera and can learn many lessons from you about soaking in life in real time and savoring the memory. xo
LikeLike
But the few pictures you allow us to see , are like a window open in your memories. Thank you for sharing this wonderful trip, and your poetic thoughts.
LikeLike