Should I take a picture?

On a radio show I listen to, the guy was ranting about a tall person in front of him at a concert taking a video of a song. He was so aggravated, because it was blocking his view. He was almost yelling "You will NEVER watch that video! Never! Put your phone down!" And I got to thinking... he is so right.

Like almost everyone, I've videoed part of a song at a concert, or a moment I'd like to remember. In the moment, it seems important and like something I don't want to forget. But in reality, yeah, I maybe watch it later that night once we're home, but that's it. I've never gone back—months, years later—and spent my precious time watching old concert videos. Now that he's pointed this out, I might not take a video at a concert ever again. 

Thanks to the ubiquity of smart phones, I think we all (not just young people) have a problem these days with trying to capture everything, whether it's photos or videos, instead of just living in the moment and taking it all in. I don't do this all that often, but I'm still guilty of it. And most times, you miss something because you're fumbling with your phone or trying to watch the concert on your phone screen, you are oblivious what's actually happening in front of you. I know that's happened to me more than a few times, and I'm guessing it happens to almost everyone. 

It's an interesting problem. Long gone are the days of expensive cameras (not to mention, the cost of film) that practically forced the person to think carefully about how they used it. You didn't just take a picture of every single thing in your day, you took pictures of the important things. Now the opposite is true, we take pictures of everything. Is the deluge of photos we'll never look at again a good thing? Is it better to remember it all, than to just remember the important parts? 

With all of this in mind, I've been pondering something: should I even bother to take a photo of the eclipse? The eclipse is less than two weeks away, and I'm really excited. I did some research about taking photos of an eclipse, because it's a tricky thing to do. If I did it, I would be using my good camera, not my phone. However, just like we have to protect our eyes during an eclipse (before and after totality) you also have to protect a camera; there are solar filters you need to use. Pointing a camera directly at the sun can cause major damage to the image sensor, and I would guess the same could be true for my iPhone's camera. Which means, the only time I might get to take a photo is during totality, when it's safe to look at the eclipse with the naked eye, and that will only last for 2 minutes 29 seconds. That's not a very long time. And it's something I will never, ever see again. And the photo probably wouldn't even turn out that good. My camera is a good camera, don't get me wrong, but it's still not a professional setup.

Initially, I figured I would take a photo of the eclipse, but now I don't think I'm going to. I might take a picture of myself, Jarrod, and Josie, in the darkness, but trying to get a good shot of the eclipse itself would take a lot of trial and error, in such a short window of time. I would rather just sit back and enjoy the moment as it is.