I’ve finally gotten around to the task of going through the 12,000+ photos I took in my two years in South America to select which ones to delete, which ones to keep, and which ones to develop and stick in my photo album. It’s a helluva task.

Lesson learned: stop taking so many photos.

You don’t need 20 pictures – over split second intervals – of someone blowing out birthday candles.

You don’t need multiples of the countryside “just in case” those mountains look a little nicer when you shift your viewfinder marginally to the left.

You don’t need to catalogue the entire two minutes of the sun setting over yet another beach.

You don’t need two of every group photo so the two photographers can take turns being in the shot (oh, and the extras to account for someone blinking at the wrong moment, of course).

Somehow we used to make do with between 20 and 24 photos on a roll of Kodak or Konica film, never knowing until the end whether we’d closed our eyes in that family portrait, or whether a stranger had walked in and gotten in the way of our picture in front of Sydney Opera House. Digital cameras are a marvellous invention because you can avoid or fix those things – but it’s taken me a while to realise you need to be wise about it too.

Several years ago I met a older couple in Barcelona who had decided to travel without a camera. Cool idea, right? There is definitely something in what they said about seeing things with your own eyes rather than through a viewfinder. On a few occasions I have caught myself being so absorbed in capturing the perfect photo and missing the experience of the moment as a result.

 

The upshot of having taken far too many photos is that, in sifting through and sorting them now – nine months on – I get to relive those experiences. Well, hello Nostalgia!

So to finish off, I thought I would share some selected shots (all taken in Ecuador) with you in this post 🙂

Quito y afueras 068
2012-04-17 Gonzanamá (10)
2012-01-28 Portete (1)
2012-09-01 La Argelia (34)
2012-09-01 La Argelia (55)
2012-09-01 La Argelia (90)
2012-09-21 Festival de bandas (24)
2012-11-17 Macará (3)
2012-03-27 El Airo (123)
2012-01 Vamos a la playa (358)
2011-10-03 Loja-Zamora (50)
2011-10-03 Zamora (40)
2012-01 Vamos a la playa (112)
2012-01 Vamos a la playa (279)

More to come as the photo culling continues!

Get new posts via email

Not a newsletter - just my blog posts on identity, culture and everyday life in your inbox 1-2 times a month.

............

.

Don't miss future posts

Get them in your inbox as soon as they're published

I'm not here to make money - I promise not to give or sell your data to anyone. You'll get 1-2 emails from me at most and you can unsubscribe at any time.

share
tweet
email
share
share
2 comments
    1. Ha, you might be right, I think I started with at least three shots of that first picture of Pululahua crater … That said, a surprising number of those images are one-shot takes! Glad you liked the pictures and thanks for stopping by and commenting, Daniel 🙂

Join the conversation - let me know what you think

You May Also Like
Keep reading >

Nomad no more

Australians boast the inglorious irony of being the best off people in this pandemic and yet we’re potentially…

IJM Interns/Fellows: Top Ten Moments From 2014

Reproduced from the IJM Newsroom/Blog: http://news.ijm.org/ijm-internsfellows-top-ten-moments-from-2014 WASHINGTON, DC, December 31, 2014 IJM teams around the world are celebrating the end of…