I reckoned there were enough cameras around the necks of people I knew that
I'll be able to get hundreds of stills and videos that others took of an
event I attended. I wanted the experience as fully as I could get it. I
ran into one guy in the elevator who was distraught because the batteries
(and spares) in his camera died. It ruined the experience for him because
getting pictures was more important to him than just being there. I didn't
want that to happen to me. I did get a couple of photos but only ones I
knew would be unique to me.

I first got this perspective on things when I was sailing a tall ship a few
years ago. We were cruising along under near full sail on a beautiful sunny
day in the Canary Islands and I and another guy were on the foredeck
clearing up the deck from handling sails. Suddenly a pod of dolphins
appeared off the starboard bow and rapidly turned toward us to ride our bow
wave. Because we were already on the foredeck, we were able to dash up to
the bowsprit and look staight down into the sea onto the backs of the
dolphins enjoying the ride. I lamented to my mate that I if I went for my
camera, they'd be gone before I got back. He told me not to sweat it but
just to enjoy the experience and relish the memory of that for the rest of
my life. "This kid's a genius", I thought. What a revelation. Be present
for the experience. And he was quite a few years younger than me, too! And
I did enjoy it fully. I have no pictures of the event, but I remember
seeing the muscles move on their backs, I remember the pattern of spots and
other markings on their backs, and I remember marvelling at the perfection
of their form and movement. No photo is ever going to enhance that
experience for me. The only problem is that I can't really share that with
anyone else, but that's the tradeoff, I suppose. With Concorde, there'll be
many more photos taken by people much better at it than I am.

Shawn
"mike regish" wrote in message
news:MDjmb.9298$275.17487@attbi_s53...
What? No video?

mike regish

"ShawnD2112" wrote in message
...
Just got home from work and my ears are still ringing from standing next
to
12 Olympus turbojets at idle thrust as the last three Concordes taxiied
into
the BA Engineering base and shut down to be towed to the retirement
ceremony. This after standing on the 8th floor of the car park watching
them come in to land one after the other. An amazing site and such a
feeling of being part of history. There are days like this when I love
my
job!

Shawn