“I’m gonna shove that camera up your ass!”

“I swear, if you take one more picture, I’m going to shove that camera up your ass.”

Umm…excuse me? Sitting in the sixth row of the symphony concert, my friend looked back in astonishment as a middle-aged woman leaned forward in her seat to curse her out as she held up her camera to take another photograph of the soloist, our close friend. My friend merely stared at her, turned forward and took another picture, completely ignoring her rude remark. Then throughout the remainder of the piece, she proceeded to take more pictures, not merely to make a point, but to support our friend, whose performance was on a near professional level and who had worked so hard for many months to come to this point and desired that we document this momentous occasion in her musical career.

Apart from the evident fact that the woman’s incredibly déclassé comment was over the line, it als brings up an interesting point about our current society and this impulse for documentation. Who does this desire to constantly capture the moments of our lives serve? It seems like the obvious answer is ourselves. As humans, we always have this desire to preserve our memories, to continually think back and clearly visualize the good times past, and of course the easiest way to carry this out is to take a photograph.

While this endeavor is often a personal one, it is also true that occasionally, it can be irritating to others. This incident at the concert notwithstanding (especially since it was so uncalled for), another instance comes to mind where incessant photographing became more irritating than endearing. At a School of Public Health event featuring the fashion designer, Kenneth Cole, one woman sitting in front of me tried several times to capture a perfect, non-blurry photo of the designer using flash. Seeing the white glare on his face for about the next 5 to 10 minutes quickly became incredibly annoying and it peeved me that the woman seemed more intent on taking her pictures of this famous figure than actually listening to what he had to say about corporate social responsibility.

To a certain extent, there is nothing wrong at all with wanting to capture the important moments in our lives, and I would certainly encourage the preservation of our good times. But it is very possible that in our great desire to constantly document the events that pass in our lives, we end up becoming removed from the event itself, that in being the one who takes the pictures, we become someone who isn’t completely engaged in the moment and able to enjoy it. We become so focused on just taking pictures that we sometimes miss the emotions and the subtleties taking place within the moment.

I confess that the lady actually yelled at me, not my friend. And I won’t deny that I am oftentimes that girl who loves to take pictures of events. I just really like to see the reactions and expressions on people’s faces as they are confronted with the joys, sorrows, surprises, happiness in their lives; to show them and others the instant responses that overwhelm them and that they would not otherwise be able to see. Yet, I also do realize when to stop and merely drink in the moment with my eyes and not just my camera. I know when to disengage my eye from the viewfinder and put my heart into the minutes passing in the blink of an eye, rather than the blink of the shutter. That evening of the concert, I honestly do feel that the woman’s remark was unwarranted and extremely impolite, however, I am willing to consider her point of view, where perhaps she is the type who doesn’t like pictures to be taken at classical concerts. And having been that woman where I have been annoyed by picture-takers, I can understand where she is coming from. But I do wish that she had been nicer. And I do wish that more people would realize that as much as documenting a moment is important and incredibly meaningful to each individual, so is the enjoyment of a single moment that ends as soon as it begins. And vice versa.

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Gabby Park occasionally likes to listen to classical music and most often loves to take photograph the events taking place in her life.