272. June 26

I spent the most wonderful afternoon on the beach. I ate a burger on the pier, played bocci ball in the sand, and stood at the shore and let the Pacific wash over my feet. I enjoyed the California sunshine, the company of friends, and the pleasure of doing nothing.

And I didn't take a single picture.

That's the funny thing about this 365 project. If anything, I've come to understand, I don't want to live life behind the lens of a camera. I love taking pictures for the sake of taking pictures, but as for preserving memories, I'd rather just live life in the moment and live each moment well. But, you, dear reader, and I still have another ninety-three days to go together. And I'm not giving up on you yet. So, I continue to take pictures and I continue to find joy in doing so.

Today's picture was actually taken the day prior on a morning walk. There are few things I love more than early mornings on the beach.

"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."
~ Dorothea Lange

It's the words of this poem that haunt me every time I feel I'm losing myself behind my camera:

The Vacation
Wendell Berry 

Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.
He went flying down the river in his boat
with his video camera to his eye, making
a moving picture of the moving river
upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly
toward the end of his vacation. He showed
his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,
preserving it forever: the river, the trees,
the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat
behind which he stood with his camera
preserving his vacation even as he was having it
so that after he had had it he would still
have it. It would be there. With a flick
of a switch there it would be. But he
would not be in it. He would never be in it.