Vacation?

While we're on vacation my wife often asks me if what we're doing is really vacation if I'm taking pictures all the time. I usually tell her it is, and try to tone down my tendency to wander off with the camera, at least for a little while. It can be difficult to separate work from play sometimes when your vocation and your favorite hobby are one in the same. While I've taken "photo vacations" where I specifically go somewhere to take pictures, I do my best to not spend an entire vacation behind the viewfinder.

This weekend, while camping in Lake City, I didn't shoot a frame. Not one. Not with our point and shoot. Not with my professional-level cameras. Not even with someone else's camera. A very rare thing indeed, but sometimes a welcome one. The long Memorial Day weekend came at a perfect time for me to recharge before the spring high school sports tournaments start. In this case, recharging meant putting the camera down and walking away slowly.

Most of the time, I'm pretty good at keeping my work-style shooting separate from my recreational-style shooting. I can usually take time here or there as we do things to pull out the camera and explore something I find interesting, but not let shooting dominate our precious vacation time. Of course, there are times when I can't resist. Let's face it, a lot of the places my wife and I like to go are very photogenic. But I work pretty hard to not follow around someone else's family on vacation because I really need a person in a photo.

(Ok, there was that one time at Gooseberry Falls with the dad and his daughter on his shoulders walking through the water, but it was just that one time!)