I am probably the worst picture taker you know. My biggest downfall is never thinking to take pictures at all. My second is that the pictures I do take, stink!
For the most part I come home from interviews, vacations, anywhere and I have no pictures. I have resigned myself to no pictures on this blog, I wouldn’t think to take them anyway. I decided that I wanted to try to paint pictures with my words and not rely on a picture to tell the story for me. But I often feel like a picture is necessary and I don’t have it!
When I went to Panama a couple of years ago with the youth from our church, we were instructed not to take our phones. Being a rule follower, I bought a camera knowing I would not have a phone with which to take pictures. At the airport I was assured that there would be a phone provided for emergencies, so I reluctantly, and with a tear in my eye, let my husband pry my phone out of my hand.
At our first stop in Miami all of the young people ran from the plane to find an outlet to plug their phones into. Wait, WHAT? You guessed it! I was the only shlub who actually followed the rules- everyone else had their phones. But since I had a new camera, I actually took pictures. Awful pictures for the most part, but I do have a record of that trip.
Recently, we went on a family vacation and I took tons of pictures of the Grand Canyon- partly because I saw my son taking them and it reminded me to do the same, and partly because I knew that words would not be able to describe what I was seeing. For various reasons, I just pointed and snapped. Between the sun, the people and my eyes, I wasn’t sure what I was getting. Besides, when I try too hard I get terrible shots, so I just photographed whatever. And I got some great pictures for a change. Once we returned to Vegas, I took a picture of our gorgeous room and then forgot to take any more!
On the last day of the trip I was laying out by the pool, perusing Twitter, when I saw a tweet with a picture. In order for me to see it, I needed to join Instagram. Since I was just sitting around anyway, I decided to be bold and join. I took a picture of my feet and posted. So many people have told me that they saw my feet! Needless to say, I haven’t posted anything since!
Last night we had dinner with friends. This morning I thought that I should have taken a picture and posted it. It was a delightful evening that I would like to remember. I started thinking of friends I have lost and how I see other friends post pictures with these people who are no longer on earth with us. I wish I had a picture with these lost friends .
I think about how I lost our first family cat when she was only three years old and I had almost no pictures of her. I have taken tons of pictures of my other cats since to make sure that doesn’t happen again. You would think I would learn that lesson with people as well!
This past week, I had to record a video for my son. I thought it turned out OK. Certainly better than the wedding video one of his friends asked me to record. “No pressure!” I was told. The camera was on a tripod, all I had to do was start and stop it. I decided to get cute and move the camera around a bit during the ceremony. Because of me, they do not have a video of their wedding. (Don’t say it! I feel horrible enough!)
So the video I did this week was better- or so I thought! When my son looked at it, he laughed. My finger is in the entire video. We had to do it over again, but I got it right during TAKE 2!
I went out to a very interesting prop farm for an interview last week. (An article is coming soon on BroadwayWorld.com) My husband had wanted to go, but had too much work and couldn’t join me. When I got home, I excitedly was telling him all of the cool things I had seen. His logical question was, “Do you have a picture?” And of course, I did not. Not one. Not only could I not show Tim all of the amazing things they had, but I am sure the nice people who showed me around thought I was very unprofessional! (In my defense, I am only allowed one picture per article and I usually try to use the logo.)
All of this to say, if you are one of my readers who actually knows me and sees me, please remind me to take a picture! In this day and age we have a camera with us at all times on our phones, so my lack of pictures is inexcusable. Someday, I will regret all of the pictures I don’t have. I hate pictures of myself, but make me do it! I promise I’ll be grateful someday.
