Flathead on Flickr.
Buy One, Get One
Buy One, Get One (by Matthew Dennis)
This is the most important picture I’ve taken in recent history. Not because it’s a particularly good picture, or one that makes a poignant observation about existential consumerism. It’s an important picture because I took it.
First, this is one of the 2 GB of photos I took the first weekend with my new camera. I’ve tossed around the idea of buying an SLR for a couple of years, always finding a way to talk myself out of it. But I finally made the plunge, taking a step to get serious about a hobby at thirty-six years of age. The goal is to move from snapshots to photography.
Second, I saw this sign while we were driving. It struck me as odd enough to stop the car (with a little prodding from my wife) and take the picture. So I pulled into the cemetery, put on the brights, stepped outside, and took a couple of shots. Sure, it’s a terrible, grainy picture with poor composition, but I took it. And that is the more important point. I felt it was an interesting opportunity. And I chose not to pass it by.
I think maybe I’ve passed by too many interesting opportunities in my life. A lot of us are guilty of thinking there is more time, are more events on the road. I think it’s time I stopped taking things for granted. This is not practice, after all. This is life.
