What Came First?
Terminal A-Reagan Nat'l Airport taken w/ Blackberry
I’m traveling for business today. As I write this, I’m sitting at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC waiting to board my plane. Frequently, I am able to morph business trips into photography trips with a little creative scheduling. Unfortunately, this time I was unable, or unmotivated, to do so. Although there are plenty of photo ops in this town, I have less than 24 hours, it’s VERY hot, I don’t have a car, and . . . Well, I’m just not taking any pictures.
I do however, have a lot of time to kill this afternoon so I picked up a copy of Shutterbug magazine at the newsstand to amuse myself while waiting to board the plane. I didn’t get very far into the magazine before I had to put it down. The Editor’s notes distracted me and I’ll have plenty of time for the magazine during the flight.
In his notes, the editor posed an interesting question that got me thinking. For me and many others, travel and photography are inextricably linked. I love to travel and I love photography. But the Editor’s intriguing question was:
“For you, which came first, the love of travel or the love of photography?” Hmm . . .
When possible, I travel for a respite from the day-to-day stress of the life I’ve chosen. I love these trips. As an avid nature photographer, I find myself scheduling recreational travel to scratch my photography itch. But before deciding on a vacation destination, I first consider the wildlife and nature photography opportunities I will encounter. If there are few, I’ll look elsewhere.
My first memories of travel are from childhood family vacations. But even then, my father made photography a big part of the trip. He instilled in me a love of photography that exists today and which I have passed onto my son. Honestly, as I sit in the bustling terminal at Reagan, I cannot remember a family vacation during which I personally did not take photographs with some kind of cheap box camera or one of my Dad’s hand-me-down 35mm cameras (I still have several of those old standards but he would kill me if he knew I sold his beloved Nikon gear).
Unfortunately, I cannot answer the Editor’s question. I don’t know what came first; my love of travel or my love of photography. Oh well. I guess there are more important questions that need answering, but as I spend hours watching hundreds of business and leisure travelers pass through the terminal, an attempt to find the answer seemed like a worthy and effective way to pass the time. It was.
What about you; what came first?
related post
Date: June 22, 2010
Categories: Random Thoughts