Photography as Visual Absconding

Ever since I took up photography I always felt a little uneasy and guilty when taking pictures. As if I were intruding on whatever was happening, especially when people were present. The act of capturing a scene was not part of the normal flow of life. It seemed that artists with their palettes became part of the scene simply by remaining within it even though they were not a subject on their own canvas. This feeling has persisted and in some ways has hindered my own style and techniques.

To become a better photographer technique-wise, I will have to learn to steel myself in order to steal a moment of time from a gamut of moving events. I must learn to abscond, taking that intangibly captured light in my camera and telling myself it is now mine, all the while knowing it truly is not.