Just shoot it...

The other day my good friend Chris was on the beach in Cape May New Jersey when a P-51 Mustang came flying down the beach and he told me he wished he had his camera. Walking down the street yesterday, I saw a girl taking a picture of one of the churches across the street from the Heinz 57 Center and it occurred to me that in no other period in time has the world we live in been more documented than it is right now. I don't care where you are or what you are doing, someone is taking a photo. Everybody today has some sort of camera, be it a camera phone or a point and shoot or a DSLR or any number of analogue cameras that are still clicking away, everything from Holgas to Polaroids and Fuji instant cameras... people are taking photos in unprecedented numbers, it's mind boggling. What's amazing too is the quality and variety of the images. When I hear somebody say "I wish I'd have had a camera", I have to ask why didn't you? When you have cell phones taking 5 to 8 MP photos and point and shoots that will fit in the palm of your hand there is just no excuse for not taking a picture.

Back when I was a art student at the Carnegie Institute, my instructor Joe Fitzpatrick used to tell us "Look to see to remember to enjoy". Part of that was in recording what we saw by drawing sketches and making notes. That's what it's all about. Today camera makes it easy to capture those moments. Cameras are like mini time machines that can transport us back to both happy and sad times, they can record the joys and tragedies of life and death. The camera is eye witness to all that is around us in this great and wondrous world we live in. Just shoot it...

Reporting live and taking pictures in Pittsburgh...
-YD