When You Don’t Have Your Camera With You

I wish I would’ve brought my camera along, now I’m stuck with this crappy cell phone shot!

This is often proclaimed by the photographer with more capable gear that’s been left at home. I know how you feel. There have been plenty of instances where I’d wish I had my DSLR or film camera with me:

  • When I see a perfect sunset
  • When I spot a cool car
  • When I’m in low light
  • When the subject is far away
  • When I want to take a portrait of someone on film (Because it’s cool and the colors look good)

The situations I’m describing aren’t even that bad though. And I’ve learned to not spend a moment in regret. Because, here’s the thing, the phone is a camera too. Quite a capable one. The best if you ask me.

Instead of spending a moment in regret and maybe not taking a photo, I take a moment to be grateful.

  • Grateful for being alive
  • Grateful for being able to see and move
  • Grateful for the challenge of creating an awesome photo with my current constraints/limitations

Even if I didn’t have my phone with me, I embrace the opportunity to improve my Vision. I take the shot with my mind.

Maybe it won’t last as long.

Maybe it will.

The last thing I want is sight without the ability to see. Vision, it’s more than sight.

Created with the iPhone.

Created with the iPhone 5S.

What do you do when you don’t have your camera with you?

6 thoughts on “When You Don’t Have Your Camera With You”

  1. I always have a point and shoot (actually it’s a rather good little camera as it shoots RAW) and I usually have an iPhone6. I still get annoyed at leaving the DSLR behind but it’s so darn heavy and bulky! Loved the sentiment in your post 🙂

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  2. Indeed, there are times when having that camera can keep you more focused on capturing the moment than on living the moment. Some of my deepest in-the-moment travels abroad were travels where I had no camera. I admit, though, I am from the photographically-challenged branch of the species to start with.

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  3. Very true and indeed, I think the beauty of phone photography is you spend less time to worry about the settings and more time to see what to shoot.
    Having said that, I do think missing RAW capability is the biggest drawback of phone camera. So I think a capable compact DC is probably a better option. I have been using Sony RX100 a lot and it’s so good that I used it more than my DSLR nowadays!

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