Here’s a story with what is, to me, a telling photo of the folks looking on. It’s the recent princely wedding, and at least half of the observers are taking photos with their phones.
So here is my question, and poll to follow very shortly. If you were attending an historic event, whether somewhat frothy like this one, or one more serious, and you were there just as an observer not as a newsperson or photographer, would you prefer to observe everything and rely on your memory and other peoples’ photos to recall the event, or would you prefer to take your own photo?
As you might guess, I have a bit of judgment going on here. There will be millions of photos of this particular event, and any attention I give to taking a photo (of dubious quality) is taken away from paying attention to the actual event. So I am giving up immediate enjoyment/interest for incomplete recollection at leisure. And chances are, if I am really focused on taking a photo, I might be doing so at the expense of other peoples’ views of the event.
For your example, I voted definitely take a photo.
My reasoning is, this event goes on and on I can miss 30 to 40 seconds to snap a few pix and still see hours of pageantry or whatever draws people to a wedding.
If I was lined up to see Evel Knievel do a motorcycle jump, I would be watching him jump, no trying to catch a pic of him in the air.
If I’m watching something really historic, like the granddaughter’s dance competition (they got first place - /brag), I’ll watch it live without trying to record it.
Normally I like to see events directly. BUT last summer’s total solar eclipse was a bit different, in that it was long lasting. Taking advice from others on this board, I recorded the event (over a period of about four minutes), but not the sun itself. I had my camera’s video recorder going, panning the people around us, especially my family members. It also captured the change in lighting and the shadows on the clouds. So I’m counting that as not taking a photo, since I wasn’t really watching what I was recording at the time but was concentrating on looking at the eclipse proper.
At a wedding, which is not exactly a fleeting blink-and-you-miss-it event, I’ll take photos. When my oldest daughters were flower girls at my sister’s wedding, I took plenty of photos and also managed to just watch and enjoy the event.
If it is something more brief in nature, I would prefer to experience rather than record.
Shortness of the event: If it was a long event with boring parts, I’d probably take pictures during those boring parts.
Personal importance to me: If it’s a big deal in my life, I’m not wasting time taking pictures - let someone else take them if they want to.
Type of event: If it’s something that I find particularly interesting or compelling, I won’t take a picture, because I want to participate as much as I can.
I’m with the OP - I want to experience the event live. I’ve never been much of a taking photos person anyway. But then, I’m a grumpy (32-year-)old man. And there are so many other people who think the opposite (such as my wife) that I’ll have plenty of opportunity to review the event later, in any case.
i used to have a digital camera and would take it along places with the intent to capture the goings-on. Sometimes I would remember I had it and wound up with a snapshot or two. Usually I wouldn’t remember it until I got home. I guess I’m just not a picture person. So no, no photos by me.
As to the reason behind your post.
Take a look back at previous royal weddings that took place before the smart phone was invented. In film the crowd looks like a disco ball with all the flash bulbs gong off.
People taking photos of historic events is as old as the brownie camera.
One of the events during the Olympics opening ceremonies is the parade, in which each country’s athletes and officials walk into the stadium and assemble. And for the last few cycles, I’ve been amused to see that many of the athletes are holding their cell phones to film the event. (Before cell phones were common, a smaller number of people would carry video cameras.) It annoys me, because I think that I’d rather enjoy the experience rather than trying to film it.
That’s why I don’t tell them directly, even when their antics are blocking my view (which has happened more than once). Unless you’re telling me I’m not allowed to have my private* opinion on the issue.
*It may seem risible to talk of having a private opinion when I am sharing it on the internet with a bunch of strangers. Which is precisely the point of discussing it here, in anonymity.
I have a screen on my phone that I can just periodically look at while watching the event live and videoing it. Then later, I can frame capture the pictures of the event that look good.
I attended a space shuttle liftoff several years back, and I decided to film it. I had a digital camcorder (phone cameras were crappy in 2007). So I watched the liftoff through the viewfinder… and then found I had forgotten to press Record. So I missed it both ways!
I doubt I would take a photo based on my past track record. I go to things like that more for the memories and experience than the “here I am at” kind of thing.
