One recent vacation reminded me that some things are meant for the experience.
I took a trip...and what a trip it was...to Hawai'i's Big Island. Depending what you may believe, the island is known for strange UFO sightings, Kahunas, clairvoyant experiences and the like. The raw terrain, rich, lush jungle, taro patches...black or green sand beaches alone can send you on a trip thats out of this world. At the least, its a photographers playground.
After boarding my flight from Honolulu to Kona, I knew I was ready. I packed my Nikon D50 and Flip camcorder, anxious to see the first glimpse of flowing lava - I'd been awaiting this trip since childhood. I remember looking at books in the library with geyser like lava spurts.
That night I slept on the beach in Kona. When it was time to head out in the morning, I pulled out the Flip to capture where I spent my first night on Madame Pele's turf. I turn it on, point and hit the big red button...turns out my lens was completely fogged out! I'd hacked the Flip to add a wide angle lens - I knew it wasn't the cleanest job but didn't realize it was completely worthless! This was probably the third time gluing this back on so thought I had the process down. I thought to myself, "oh well, I'll just have to take still shots."
When I pulled out my Nikon to take a test picture, guess what? I forgot my memory card in my laptop! Now I was thinking, "WTF!?" What are the chances of that!?!
In retrospect, the precursor to all of this was my seat on the plane ride over to Kona. I set directly in the middle of the jet engine on the right wing. I'm damn near positive that I didn't pick this seat but apparently I did because I couldn't see a damn thing the whole ride over. I was actually hoping to capture a few bird's eye view shots of Madame Pele. After all, she was the main anticipation of my trip.
Post-vacation conclusion - I'd have to say that Madame Pele had different plans for my arrival...I never even saw flowing lava the entire trip. However, I'd gained SO much more in the experience. I literally talked someone's ear off just about the first few days wandering the volcanic land. I won't be doing that here but have realized that there are times only for the experience. Could I have purchased another memory card and Flip camera in tourist city like Kona? Maybe I'm an idiot for letting all that happen? Sure, I can accept that criticism - had I been focused on that though, who knows how the experience would have changed? What I may have missed b/c I was busy trying to capture a moment instead of capturing the experience of it.
Digital photography is everyone's hobby these days and I'm no exception; however, I have realized there are going to be times when the cameras just need to be turned off and be FULLY immersed in the experience.
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