What is lost and what is gained with a camera..

I went out with my officemates to watch the latest installment of Harry Potter on IMAX at the SM Mall of Asia last night, and although none of us is a fanatic of the Boy who lived, that experience was really something worth every penny. I was even excited to try watching inside imax theater, so I made sure to bring our digital camera with me, you know, so I can have a memory of the first time I watched on that BIG screen. But I guess I was just too busy laughing so hard with my friends, and enjoying the moment that I actually forgot about my camera altogether.

Somehow, it's sad that I can't post a photo of that experience on my facebook, or I can't even put a picture here in my blog. Surely, it will be a lot of fun if I only took sometime to point and shoot with my camera, then there will be more thread in my comment box. But somehow, I felt like that day was meant to be felt and enjoyed rather than to be shared or preserved. Somehow it felt like a precious second will pass me by if I've let myself pose still in front of a camera, or maybe our smiles won't be that genuine compared to how I saw it with my bare eyes.

With the presence of digital cameras and DSLR made more affordable, I guess people is beginning to have this clamor for framing every possible moment with their favorite gadget. A camera is viewed most essential in an outing, family affairs, group dates, and get together. And although something is gained with a digital camera, I guess some people is starting to be unaware of what is lost within a lens and a shutter.

Hmmm.. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with taking photos, of course we all want a remembrance of that once in a lifetime moment, right? Especially for those functions that happens once a year, or some that won't even happen again, I guess having a camera is a must. It preserves memories, it gives us a proof of something that happened, "hindi lang puro kwento..". But after all the "say cheese!", is it not nice to keep your gadget and just talk and mingle with everyone else?

I guess our mind is blessed with its own way of recording things although some people may have shorter term memory than the most. Our heart has its way of recalling how happy we were at a certain moment. We can even be our own story tellers, we can tell a story that is more vivid than a photograph.

If you'll only consider it, there are things that are better caught with your own memory rather than with a piece of memory stick. There are things that is more beautiful when you see it with your eyes, rather than through a lens. There are sounds, like that of your friend's laughter, that you can't hear from a printed photograph. There are moments that is more meaningful to relive over a simple chitchat that can't be replaced by your comment box. I guess, no matter how handy a digital camera is, your heart is still be best place to keep those memories, those laughters, or that awkward moment.

So flash your sweetest smile not just for the camera, but because someone might be trying to keep a memory of it in his mind. Who knows, he might even keep it in his heart forever.