So everyone has the camera out already... will you take yours out. ( Thoughts on taking pictures socially)

 You know the the scene everyone is snapping away. Cameraphones, Point and shoots and even a few DSLR's  and you walk up. With the increased portability of camera and the fact that most of us have our cameras at our sides at all times its no wonder so many people are always snapping.  Its fun because people use to always  beg a designated person ( The  photographer) in the group to bring their camera. The thought is we want to capture some moments and we want to make sure the right person is there to capture it.

 Right now with Instagram, Facebook  and even email  we are no longer content to hand this duty off to someone. we take it for ourselves.  I see it so many times everyone in a group has their camera of choice and they are begging other people to take the picture for them so they have a picture of themselves at least.

So the question I ask is.
 Is  it important for me to sling out my camera and take the picture or do I content myself that someone else capturing it.  The bad thing is that because so many people record it for themselves... there is little need to share or  look at others pictures because we have captured it for ourselves.

  I think  because photographs are so easily generated few people are willing to really figure out a scene its to easy to just snap a few shots and worry about the  good and the bad ones later.  I think this means there is more than a surplus of bad ones .

Maybe I am maturing but I had this discussion with someone the other day and I said there are two kinds of photographs  one that carries information and one that carries mood.   To me most of these  snapshots are in that category of  information. They tell people you were  here and you saw that. I am far more interested in how you felt and that can;t be rushed. However that being said.. I think a lot of times I enjoying seeing some photo that tells  me what you saw.


 The big question this all leads up to is how well the image was captured. so it always makes me cringe  when someone says  hey this was a great shot... And the background is all blown out and the  person's arm is cutoff and there is a tree going out of their head and there is  shadows playing across  their face. And the  whole image is on a tilt. While it might look passable to some people. I keep thinking if I took that picture I would shoot myself.  However I try to  think,  if people saw the stuff I use to do they would have a hard time not crying.