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Comment by Daviey | Hacker News Reader

When I was a teenager, I had this silly idea. I didn't really bother taking photos because I thought it was better to just see things myself instead of through a camera. I told myself, "I'd rather see it in real life than through a camera lens". I figured since my friends were always taking pictures, I could just get copies from them later on.

Turns out, that 'later' never really happened. Friends moved on, and now, I barely have any photos from back then, and my kids love looking at the old photos I do have. Capture everything, especially as it couldn't be easier now.

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There's a balance.

I went to a firework display last month and two teenagers in front of us stood side by side, both videoing the fireworks. Not just holding their phones up, they watched the entire display on their phone screen. Surely that's missing out on something?

Yeah, that is crazy.. Couldn't agree with you more.

This happens are concerts. It's endemic and has spolit the event, globally. Recently I saw a film director talk and all phones were locked away. Everyone in the room (2000 people) got to hear, and see, what they'd come for. I wish more events would do this. I really do.

All this does is split the fanbase, because for every person who likes phone-free events, there are others who feel that phones are an essential part of life and phone bans are a boomer relic. But for musical scenes like classical music or jazz that are small and fragile and can’t afford to split their audience, this is a real problem.

That's not my experience. I tend to see more younger people engaging in the moment and older people tethered to their phone.

I saw Phoenix a few weeks ago outside the US. The lead singer tried to crowd surf, but the crowd around/under him were so focused on photographing the moment that he wasn't able to stay up.

When you realize taking photos of things that repeat or are static (like building and fireworks) doesn't make sense. Taking photos of family and friends and having people in context is what's important. Sure, if you're in a new place and want to capture some scenery, that's fine, but for example I have a bunch of photos from years ago without people in them that are basically meaningless now.

firework displays are definitely something better appreciated in person. Music gigs are probably another.

Looking from the other side, I was taking lots and lots of pictures for several years. Pretty much a go-to group-of-friends photographer.

I did my best to take pictures. So in many cases I was focused on taking pictures rather than participating. Pictures are nice and I know other people love having them. Which is nice. But sometimes I feel I missed out on some stuff being behind the lense.

Same for me and as I transitioned to being a father this really got me thinking. I want my son to have photos of his childhood but I also want to participate in it so the pendulum swings back and forth, it’s difficult to find the balance :D

My solution is to take a picture a week or so. Enough non-repetitive content. Yet not too much behind-the-lense stuff. Not gone lie, nagging is there.

Agreed. I have “lost years” from my twenties… not really lost of course but I looked so derisively upon the idiots with their selfie sticks, as I wandered around with my DSLR taking interestingly angled shots with absolutely no one I knew in them. It’s a fun hobby but in hindsight I think I had my priorities backwards. Every now and then I stumble across a photo I’m actually in and I’m shocked by how young I am.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the author of this piece was a college student at the time. I wonder if their perspective will change revisiting this article a decade or so later.

(as a parent I feel it a hundred times over. I want to be entirely present but already feel extreme nostalgia for the days my kids were younger and love to watch old videos. It’s a constant balancing act.)

I always felt uncomfortable both having photos taken as well as taking them, and as a result I also have very few photos to look back on.

My memory also kinda sucks. As I got really into Instagram, I became one of those annoying folks that was sticking the phone out everywhere to get a picture. I particularly liked snapping shots during music events. I convinced myself that this will help me remember what I’ve done and give me something to fondly look back on.

Flashing forward, neither of those things really came true. I rarely looked back at the photos (most of them were too poor of quality to be particularly useful), I was rarely in them, and it didn’t help memory much. Instead, I was mostly just seeking feedback and attention from social media peers, the event I thought I was commemorating was just grist for the mill. I found myself being more interested in collecting evidence of living my life to post than actually enjoying it.

I got rid of almost all social media a couple of years ago. I don’t miss it whatsoever. More to the point, I’ve become more aware of how disruptive this phenomenon is. For me, writing things down in a journal was way more effective for my memory and capturing context. I take less photos, keeping the phone put away until the end when I ask people for a quick group photo or two, but now the quality has gone up, I’m actually in them, and I’m not interrupting people by constantly sticking my phone in their face. Quality over quantity, IMO.

In my late teens, I accidentally formatted the wrong harddrive and erased hundreds of photos. Most of those photos were rubbish, blurry, and of things weren't important, or if they were, they aren't any more.

But amongst that hoard was some pictures of valuable memories, or places and people that no longer exist. I realised that I didn't have a single picture of my cat who passed away shortly after I lost all the pictures.

Now I don't take that many photos, and I don't let the activity of taking photos get in the way of any experience, but even the blurry crappy photos I make sure are thoroughly synced and then backed up.

Yea, taking a few photos really doesn’t take very long. ‘Loosing’ 3-5 minutes of a 3 day ski trip really isn’t much of a sacrifice.

Video is tricky. I find simply aiming in the right general direction without looking in the viewfinder means you get crappy video and can still stay in the moment. Then when watching it you kick of the actual memory even if the video isn’t that good.

It seems like there should be a balance between photograph nothing and capture everything. What I have been trying to do is: snap a few photos, then enjoy the rest of my time. If anything else noteworthy happens, I write a note about it using my note taking system (org-roam).

Nowadays I mostly piggy-back on someone else more enthusiastic than me who would take the picture. And sometimes I'm the enthusiastic one.

There are better memories to be had if you have someone to share with.

Yeah I think the optimal process is to take a quick photo and then put the camera away. Record the memory, then get back to living it.

I’ve also generally found that even bad photos are good enough for triggering memories, and so the important thing is to take a photo, any photo, and not obsess over the details. (At least for photos you’re primarily taking for personal reasons.)

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