Pictures are Memories of your Travels

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” Pat Conroy

Banff National Park, Canada

Doorway, Durnstein, Germany

I admit that I am one of those travelers that takes lots of pictures.  I have a camera on a strap around my neck, and I snap away.  Thank goodness for digital.  I remember when I used to be careful how many pictures I was taking, because I didn't want to run out of film, and besides, it cost so much to print all those photos when you got home.  And with film, you didn't know if you actually got the shot until you got home and saw the print, and when it didn't turn out, you couldn't just go back and take the picture again.  Now I don't even make photo albums anymore, I just store all my photos on discs.  After all, albums take up so much space and who is ever going to want those when I'm gone.  With discs I can pull them out and watch them whenever I want, and they take up very little space.

Doorway in Hvar, Croatia

Child at the zoo in
Chongquing, China

I will say though, that when traveling, I make a point of taking some pictures, then putting the camera aside and really enjoying the place without the camera.  You don't want to see a place only through the lens of the camera.  And I like to take pictures of odd things.  While in Croatia last year, I became fascinated with taking pictures of doorways.  And in China, it was children, which my friends and family found amusing, as I have never been a "kid person".  But I thought the children in China were so cute and well-behaved.  I kept snapping their pictures.  I've always loved the water, so quite often I take pictures of harbors or the sea.  And I love animals so tend to snap them whenever I see them.

Sequoia

I sometimes like to try to be artistic, and shoot through openings, like arches or doorways, so that the  scenery is framed.  While in Sequoia National Park last year we walked through a tree that was laying on the ground and was hollow.  Halfway through there was a large opening and I got a really neat shot of the trees through the opening.  But most the time I am just documenting the trip and what we see, and trying to get the best shot I can.  I will never be a professional, but I enjoy taking pictures, and I also enjoying going back and looking at them years later, and remembering the fun we had on the trip.

Plitvice Lakes NP, Croatia

Last year we took a trip to Croatia.  There was a young woman in our group who was traveling on her own.  She was a camera fanatic.  She must have taken several thousand pictures in the 3 weeks we were on this trip.  She wanted pictures of herself with the background, so she was forever holding the camera at arms length pointed at her face and whatever was in the background.  She also would ask anyone in the group to take her picture whenever possible, which was fine, but she didn't want just one picture, she'd then get you to take 7 or 8, which was sometimes a little annoying.  We particularly noticed it when we were in Plitvice Lakes National Park.  The scenery there was spectacular, and we were all in awe of it.  But Marivic spent the entire time standing with her back to the scenery pointing her camera at it and herself.  I doubt if she really saw much of the park.  So the one thing I will say to everyone, take some pictures, they are nice to have later, but make sure you also see the area you are going to, first hand - and not only through the lens of the camera.

Budapest

Hvar Harbor

 "Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don’t have film."

Unknown

"When setting out on a photographic holiday, always provide yourself with two cameras, one to leave in the train going and the other to leave in the cab coming back."  W.C.Sellar & R.J.Yeatman.