You don’t look into the details of the smaller things that are going on. The beauty that passes you by, every instant. The times when you wish you had your camera with you, because you saw something that you wanted to capture forever and look at it again and again. These are the times when you create memories.
You don’t need to capture every moment for later, she says. I think about it. No, I don’t need to capture every moment. But I want to capture this moment. For this is the moment that I not only want to remember, but I want to see. I sometimes want to see and then remember the moment. A memory is not always enough, you see.
How can I remember the clouds that embraced the mountain today? Will I remember it tomorrow? Yes. One week later? Maybe. A month later? Maybe not. A year later? I don’t think so. Will I remember it if I see it? Of course. Pity I didn’t have my camera with me though. This will be another lost moment that will fade away.
What does this picture mean to you? Nothing. Just a pretty play of colours and maybe some technical accomplishment with the lens. What does it mean to me? Much more. It captures the moment. It has nothing to do with the moment though. It just happened to be there and I happened to have my camera and I happened to see it so I happened to click it and not think anything about it till I saw it now, again.
Sometimes, pictures make memories for me.
37 comments:
many times i click to remember that i lived this moment ... that moment may not even be important...hv nothing of significance in it.. but it's a momant i lived.. and that makes it worth capturing :)... a way to remember the trail of your life....
ps: still trying to figure out the pic.. could be some bead in a thread.. not sure..
i have picture like that. we are always trying to capture moments, make fossils, whats the use ... maybe the best part of the moemnt is that which stayed in the mind ... or the heart ... like the lingering smell of a flower you touched for a while and gave away later ... or maybe the fossils are all we have
I find drawing things or writing about them makes them stay forever, if I look at what I drew or wrote I am right back there. Smells also, when I was little my mum used to put me in a swing hung in the door way of the kitchen to keep me out of trouble, while she cooked Sunday lunch. Whenever I smell Sunday dinner I feel and see that veiw from the swing
every memorable moment i wish to capture. if only i could record them all so in times i feel down, i have something to look at or view, that could brighten my gloomy day with tiny sparks.
first glance at the pic tho, i thought it was a bong. ;)
Very nicely said... that is the essense of a true photographer. They say they take snapshots of life.... but it's more like time captured and stored away in a little perfume bottle, no ?
A, wonderfully rich words and I love the warmth of the picture. This is one of your most eloquent posts. I loved it.
for a long time i carried a 35mm with me and it became my memory. i lived my photographs, and loved many things i never would have experienced without the lens...
harder, now, to practice living fully what is with me in this moment, dependent on being with a thing now, experiencing it now, letting it go for the next moment that comes...
i struggled with letting go of my grip on the past. i still love the lens and treasure exquisite photography, but life without the camera makes paying full attention now critical. and i don't want to miss a single moment...
this one you captured...exquisite. rich. deep. i am glad you have this one for keeps...
A, I love the post and the picture.
Agree with you that we may not remember everything forever, unless we have something to connect us to it.....but the flip side is that sometimes you lose the present just to capture that perfect memory for the future.
i can completely relate to this. i once had a conversation with this guy asking me why i insist on always taking pictures. i said i wanted it to remind me when memory fails me.
and just like this photograph. something non-related but on that particular day can spark a memory and make you smile :)
amazing photograph!
and your last line calls to mind my last line on my last post. wow. we seem to have this connection in posts going. lovely.
This will be another lost moment that will fade away..especially the bit about the clouds..
Oh yes, that was how it was. Till I got my cam & hcam.
Music/songs and my writing do this for me. I guess pictures and writing do this for you. Have you ever noticed that at certain times, you don't have a camera, or something with which to write your thoughts down? It's almost as if you were meant to be intensely present in The Moment, and not try and freeze it in film, or cage it on paper.
sometimes, eve mmories create pictures, of their own kind, incomplete, maybe untrue, but the truth as we see it, captured in one of those "untechnical" frames of our mind.
sometimes, words are pictures, sometimes pictures mean nthn
but the camera is not wat's imp, nthn to enslave us.
only the eyes that see it, and the mind that sees thru it, is imp.
:)
Yeah ....all the philosophy apart...we all tend to indulge ourselves. Hope twenty years down the line you can look at the pic and relive the moment and feel good about having made an effort to freeze time.....
I think, more often, we remember the happiness the moment gave us, than the moment itself. Misty mountains I last last week? I smile. Can I picture it in my head? No. Can I be happy about that "memory"? Yes.
PS: Find time on your blog.. interesting read.
Being able to appreciate a moment, to my mind, is to be without being light or weight.
And this is such a seductive thing, no? It seems to crook a finger and beckon you into shadows and light that promise the world - unseen and inconceivable.
What joy it is to let life wash over you, with all its corners and edges. Alas, too few truly know how.
A, forgive the rant! :)
thoughts - Exactly! The picture is of a part of a hookah.
Prerona - Would love to see the picture. And thanks for your thoughts.
aristera says - Thanks. To each his/her own.
Sue hardy-Dawson - Thanks for sharing your experience. Very interesting.
MissQt - Hhmmm.
atomicvelvetsigh - What is a bong?
ashweeta - That could be one way of describing it, yes.
Diva Drip - Thank you so much.
feminine expressions - Thanks for your thoughts and perspective on this post.
Anonymous - Very true. And sometimes, the perfect memory for the future is worth it. :-)
Lorena - Thanks and ditto.
transience - I just went over and read it. Wow. The first lines also contrast each other too.
Itineranting - When do we see those pictures?
mermaid - Sometimes it is like that and sometimes it just hurts that you can't write or capture it in a photograph.
Phoenix - Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.
rusty - I know I will.
Casablanca - Thanks for dropping by and commenting. Hope to see you around.
Extempore - Not a rant. A good perspective. :-)
chennai pages - I guess there are 2 ways of looking at it.
Must we "capture" in order to make the moment last in our minds? Sometimes there is more beauty in the wispy recollection of a moment isn't there?
(That image burns August - burns hot!)
running thru emotions... well buddy that's what life is all about.
photo: nice play with lights (though abstract)
i also like to capture moments (being a photo enthusiast)... but lately i hv realized that while trying to capture those moments, we actually miss the experience part of it... and now what i do is if at all i want to capture, i'll do a shot or two... and then try to get immerse in the environment and experience the beautiful feeling...
you are right.. however just like an odd picture, a distant sound or a whiff of a smell can bring back any of those locked in memories.. wondering how to preserve them.. i guess there is a difference in the kind of memories that you wish to save and those which flood you unintentionally when some senses trigger them..
great pic!!!
yet some pictures are imprinted in the mind in a way no camera can capture
.:A:.
Yes I do have photos on flickr, but they are quite in a mess right now. In the process of sorting them.. then will let u know the address ;)
this IS a lovely pic, august! and i have NO idea wat it is! ;-) yes, it's pretty though! i shall forever think of u as anonymous shutterbug, with ure camera around ure neck, now!
I love the way you potray your thoughts..you find poetry even in a needle so to speak..
Thank you for bringing fresh ideas in poetry
real time capture is cool.
LOL.. yeah yeah you dont know what a bong is? *winks
sometimes i'll take pictures of a moment in my mind, but then forget to savour the present while it's occuring... good suggestion. maybe i should carry a camera with me everywhere so that my eyes and mind are free to take it all in. :)
mesmerised! the colors there.........awwww!
finnegan - In a way they do!
Geetanjali - Thanks for the thought. We mustn't do anything. Just capture it the way we want to.
chaos - Thanks for your experience and perspective.
Ram - Exactly.
Brood Mode - Thanks and agree.
veej - Thanks for dropping by here and sharing your thoughts on this. Much appreciated.
Casablanca - Will be sure to check it out.
jawaher - Thanks. Will keep the title in mind!
livinghigh - It is a Hookah.
iamnasra - Poetry in a needle. Wow, that is a new phrase. Thanks.
Billy - Yes it is.
atomicvelvetsigh - Pretty close. It is a Hookah.
stella - Try it and let me know how it came along.
Samudraa - Thank you.
thats so true- you take pics of things that are micro memories, merely a part of the experience. Yet later, years later maybe, they bring back a wave of memories, some directly related some not at all- all with that one littl picture.
how can one not want to click away?
(though I also get the feeling that says- relax, enjoy it for what it is, without trying to capture everything)
vAgue - Exactly. You don't need to capture everything. Only the little things.
yvaine - :-)
I actually discovered an amazing way to record a moment, and you don't need a camera, pen, or brush. You just need to listen to the music at the exact moment, or at the moment following the moment when the moment is still reverberating in your head. For the rest of your life, every time you hear that song playing, you will be brought right back to that moment in time.
EATING POETRY - Yes, music is also a great reminder of emotional memories, feelings. Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
HA! i remembered this post today and looked for it.. hmm wondered what you replied on the BONG.. lol.. i practically searched for Hookah!! haa.. now i know how you get your "tranced state" sometimes.. hehe *winks (well i must confess of being guilty too sometimes!) haha yee.. like now? *giggles
atomicvelvetsigh - :-)
Post a Comment