Last nights mascara

I was leaving a restaurant today, waking past the patio, I noticed a mom taking a picture of her two kids. (Of-not with)

A thought occurred to me: A generation of moms behind the camera means a future generation of kids without pictures of their parents. 

That's so sad to me! People rely so much on this "selfie" situation to document all of their precious moments. What happened to people being bold enough to ask a stranger at the same place to capture the group photo for them? Or a camera with a self timer mode?

I was driving through Texas last weekend and saw this sunflower field.... 

Amazing, right? 

People were stopped all along the road taking photos with these HUGE sunflowers. I lavished in the moment, watching the miles pass by and the people living in the present. 

We need more spontaneity. 

I think some of it has to do with our inability to look completely flawless at any moment, let's face it-iPhones turned in "selfie" position do not come fully equipped with Photoshop. (Although I've noticed a few people have downloaded apps to assist their mid-day selfie shoot) We get wrapped up in how others see us. 

We forget to just live in the moment. 

As I was making my journey home from Texas, I saw the sea of yellow approaching. I made the decision to stop and see these things up close-even though I was alone. (There is the selfie option, after all)

When I came close enough to slow down, I noticed one vehicle. There was a couple around my age attempting the selfie with the sunflower. I couldn't let this pass for them. So I marched right up to them and insisted they let me take a real photo for them. Of course they were willing, and appreciative. 

Here I am, this random stranger, walking out of the car with hipster glasses, a hippie headband, and a car fully stocked with stickers displaying my love of all things outdoors and animal related. (It's possible there was a twizzler hanging from my mouth too) I can only imagine their conversation once they climbed back into that blue pick-up truck. 

But it's cool, they returned the favor for me. 

Goal: obtain a super awesome camera and document all areas of my life-even the unscripted unplanned, unmake-uped, moments - WITH me in the picture. 

Why has a super techy brainy-ack not created an online portal for people to upload photos they capture of strangers that can't catch the moment themselves? Photos that hold so much value to only those in the photo... Think about it, there's a million dollar idea. 

In the mean time, embrace the photo of yourself, even if your hair's all a mess and you're wearing last nights mascara.