Leave the Camera Home

As a techie, I simply love digital photography. With the exception of television and the Internet, I can’t think of any greater consumer advance. Having spent almost a year working in and exploring Europe with a 35mm film camera, I am painfully aware of just how incredible digital cameras now are. Where before you would have to agonize over every shot and keep your fingers crossed that they would turn out, now you can just fire away and review them immediately. When taking pictures of my kids, I just basically hold the button down. Hopefully, after a few hundred shots, I will get one or two where everyone is smiling and looking at the camera. I shudder to think what I would be spending on film with two little kids without my digital camera. Needless to say, they probably wouldn’t have a college fund.

Despite my love affair with my digital camera, I have come to realize that my desire for “the perfect shot” has had a negative impact on my living NOW. Sometimes, I can get so wrapped up in preserving the moment that I neglect to really enjoy it. This was no more apparent for me than during Tyler’s first school Christmas pageant.

It was supposed to be a nice family event. Tyler and 100 of his closest three year old preschooler friends were putting on a Christmas pageant for all of the parents. We all got dressed up in our Christmas best and I was armed to the teeth with a digital SLR camera (with two lenses), a digital point and shoot camera and a digital video camera. Come hell or high water, I was going to capture this precious moment. Carrying about 300 pounds of recording equipment was a bit cumbersome, but like all of the digital dads in attendance, I was committed to capturing history.

As the show started, I was a complete wreck. Our seats were less than ideal and the chairs were packed way too close together. I was desperately trying to get the perfect shot with 99 other Christmas-sweater-wearing dads in a tiny auditorium. To top it off, the lighting was atrocious. As the temperature climbed with my stress level, I started sweating profusely and I nearly lost it. In a last ditch effort, I switched to the bigger lens and fired away. I ended up taking about 200 pictures in the desperate hopes that something would turn out. Here are the two best shots from that night.

Sadly, I don’t remember anything about Tyler’s performance that night. I don’t remember any of the songs that he sang or the Christmas stories he told with his friends. I don’t remember if he was excited, nervous, scared or all of the above. I was so focused on capturing the moment, that I missed it. All I remember from the evening of his first Christmas pageant – an evening that I will never get back – is that I was furious because I couldn’t get the perfect shot. I love cameras and I love capturing and preserving precious moments, but take it from me, sometimes you need to leave the camera home and fully engage in the moment. You’ll be surprised at what you see and how well you will remember it later.

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