Kathy & I recently attended a travel show in Charlotte, hoping to get some ideas for places we’d like to go. As is inevitable at these events, someone along the line asked the question, “so what’s on your Bucket List? It’s a common question, and has gotten to be a bit cliché, but for the most part is simply used as a conversation starter. I don’t take offense at the question, but do tend to bristle a bit whenever I hear it. Let me explain.
One of the most valuable lessons that I have learned from my photography is that we can’t go everywhere or do everything – we can only do so much. We’re never going to see everything there is to see. There is always a “better” sunrise or sunset happening somewhere else. And traveling to exotic destinations does not guaranty good photographs. Not that there aren’t a lot of good reasons to travel to beautiful locations. My approach has become to travel to places I am interested in, take my camera and make photographs wherever I happen to be. Traveling to a place specifically to take photographs, more often than not, results in looking for preconceived or iconic photos, at the expense of seeing things through my unique eyes and vision.
One of my favorite ways to travel is to rough out a route, then look to see what else there is to do along the way. When I get to a T in the road, it is not unusual for me to go left when my directions tell me to go right. I’ve found a lot of interesting things – and interesting photographs – by going the “wrong” way. It’s nothing for us to be driving down a country road, see a sign for something or other and say, “let’s check it out.” We do and it is often a worthwhile diversion.
I try to avoid falling into what I have heard referred to as “get-there-itis.” That’s what happens when we are so focused on the route or the destination that we don’t take time to enjoy the journey. If we never stray from the highway, we never see that fish processing plant at the end of the dead-end road or stop at a waterfall that isn’t on the map. And that’s why I don’t like the idea of a Bucket List in the way I suspect a lot of people look at it. The problem becomes when we look too far ahead or focus too much on the list itself to the exclusion of other choices. We also run the danger of over-planning, and don’t leave time for serendipity.
There are obviously unlimited ways to consider a bucket list, and that obviously makes a difference when it comes to what it means. If we think of it as a list of places we’d like to consider going, but use it more as a guide in case we lose our memory before the money runs out, then yeah, that is probably OK. But taken to the extreme, if it becomes an “ohmygawdIjusthavetodoallthesethingsbeforeIdieormylifewillbeafailure” list, then it becomes – in my opinion – little more than a list of potential disappointments, for those things we don’t get to do, or because of things we pass by because we are too determined to cross off one more thing.
There are obviously a lot of places I would like to go and things that I would like to do. I even have a list! But there really isn’t anyplace I feel like I need to get to in order to be satisfied. I’ve wanted to go to Colorado since I was a kid, and finally got there last year. I’d probably love Hawaii, but as Kathy & I were reminiscing about our recent visit to Nevis – admittedly a “Bucket List-worthy” destination in its own right – we wondered just how much “better” Hawaii might be? Different, certainly. It’s hard to say, and we might get to find out someday. I’d like to go to several places in Europe, but if I don’t get there that will be OK.
Our son Kevin leaves today for a week in Peru, and I am quite envious. Is Peru on my “Bucket List?” No, but when he talks about the things he is going to do there, it sounds like a place I’d like to go. Somehow I had just never considered it. Will I add it to my list? Quite possibly. But more likely I will channel my thoughts to answer the question of “so, what is MY Peru?” What place would I love to go that I haven’t thought of? I’m not sure, and when I find it I hope there is a flight or a ship to take me there!
I find that I can be perfectly happy making the best of anywhere I am. Whether that is Waynesville or Belhaven, North Carolina, Key West or Fort Collins, those places are special to me also. Many of my best memories and favorite photographs are from places that wouldn’t be on too many Bucket Lists. But I get the most satisfaction from experiences and not from places. And I think my photographs reflect that, too.
I agree that to visit a place solely to take photos is a mistake. I used to have a travel bucket list but it has been amended so many times that it really no longer exists. South Africa was a place that I wanted to ‘see’ and it was the trip of a lifetime. Although I hauled what seemed like a ton of camera gear, I took photos that will always remind me of what a wonderful experience it was. No regrets!
That’s exactly my point and I hope I stated it well. We need to have goals and wishes, but to be so consumed by trying to achieve them that we miss out on the “oooh, that looks interesting!” moments is what I hope to avoid. We ultimately take the photos that move us, and while those photos may also express some deeper meaning, they will primarily be our memories.
I like what you wrote and believe it to be true: “But I get the most satisfaction from experiences and not from places. And I think my photographs reflect that, too.”
A while back one of the photographers I used to follow on twitter wrote about a trip he made to Colorado. He flew in one afternoon, drove to Rocky Mountain National Park, stayed overnight, rose early in the morning to hike to some area then hiked right back out. He was on a plane headed home that evening. For me that is not enjoying the journey. He did have a nice image to post, but it indicated how much his photography is a business rather than experiencing life.
I love that sunset off the porch from Charleston.
Well, I guess if your purpose is “checking a box” a drive-by of Rocky Mountains National Park is OK. But I could probably spend a summer there and not see everything I wanted to see. Gonna give it a try someday soon though! Trying to convince the boss to do some long term travel, if I can tear her away from that baby long enough!
I like your photos of Puerto Rico. I know some people who’ve bought property there and plan to retire in that country. I could think of worse places to spend my remaining years 🙂
Like you Tom, I’ve never been one for bucket lists or any list beyond a grocery list for that matter. Still, all my friends have such a list and to their credit, many of them are acting on their wishes. In some cases though, there is a sense of desperation to tick off all those checkboxes before time runs out. A desperation fed by the desire to die without regrets perhaps. As your post so aptly expresses, that is probably not the best way to make the most of a bucket list. As you point out Tom, we will never see every place, hear every song, witness every sunset, take every picture, taste every flavour. To die without regret is to have lived without imagination.
I don’t have a bucket list myself because it feels too much like making a plan and my life is testimony to how bad I am at making plans. If a divinity exists, my plans have been the butt of its jokes for most of my life. In any case, I could potentially have another 30 years left in me and in that time there is a good likelihood that I’ll get to experience plenty of new sights, new people, new sensations and new feelings. And I dare say that will be true even if I stay where I am. For now, I’ll just let myself be surprised.
Cedric, I think there is a lot to be said for “going with the flow” and that it is way overlooked. I’m a list maker and I like to plan, but that kind of list is not what I have in mind.
Depending on how our wacky election goes I may be looking to relocate to Australia. I’ll be sure to look you up! 😉