Experience

These words from Patrick Rhone’s Reflections newsletter have been bouncing around in my head all week:

“I often wonder why we don’t seek to create or capitalize on the opportunities to create a great experience in our everyday lives more often.

I know my mundane todo list feels less so when I use a vintage fountain pen and some really nice paper. I know my productivity seems to increase when I clean off and sit at my beautiful cherrywood desk. I sign important documents with a big expensive pen. I often go to a book store (as I am right now) to write. All of these are not about the action but the experience. By elevating the experience I’m increasing the pleasure and memory of the action.”

Apply this to photography and it presents a conundrum. My first reaction was to admit that the experience is enhanced, but it doesn’t make you a better photographer.

However, I do have to admit, for some photographers, shooting with a Leica or Lomo is almost a spiritual experience and the resulting photographs might be secondary. So, perhaps, we should clarify in the future just what it is we want out of photography: money, better images or, maybe, just the great experience of the process.