In the movie, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” there is an insightful scene at the end when Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn) is about to take a picture of a rare snow leopard. He is tucked on the side of the mountain and has zoomed in on the beautiful creature. Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) shows up and is watching; waiting for Sean to shoot the picture. Finally he asks, When are you going to take it? Sean responds, “Sometimes I don’t. If I like a moment for me, personally, I don’t like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it.” Walter Mitty is not sure exactly what he means so he asks, “Stay in it?” Sean replies, “Yeah, right there. Right here.”
I think how I now often do not like to take many pictures of fish for this simple reason. The process of taking pictures can be a distraction. I would rather keep fishing and just be in the moment, and the next moment, and the next. I also think in our computerized world where we chronically post millions of pictures all over the internet we may be living more of a virtual life, than the reality of life in each moment. If I catch a fish and the first thought is to take a picture so I can post it for the world to see, I may be missing “some-thing” in the moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment