The Tension Between Filming & Living Life

One of the greatest challenges, in my humble opinion, of a business owner in today's social world is how to balance filming and documenting life vs. actually being present and living it. Because you experience an event very differently watching it live or viewing it through a screen. 

My first experience with this was during my brother's high school baseball career. I photographed a lot of his games and, during his junior and senior year, I photographed basically everything. And I loved every second of it. But I realized that the experience of watching a game through the lens of a camera is VERY different from just sitting there and watching it. Not necessarily bad, but definitely different. 

Photography educators will talk about this. They'll talk about taking a few shots with your "big camera" and then putting it away to be present. To not fall into the trap of documenting everything because photos are meant to remind you of memories but if you're too busy taking the pictures, there won't be any memories to be reminded of. 

But what about phones? I didn't get a smart phone until I was in my twenties, though I had iPod touches in my teen years. Most of my growing up time, I was always present with people because I had nothing to distract me and that became my habit. To this day I am actually horrible at remembering to take photos during events or with people. (Funny for the photographer to admit, I know). I don't want to be "on my phone" constantly, even if it's just taking photos or videos. So how do I capture my life to share it for personal branding?

Because to be honest, I feel icky thinking about take photos and video just to share it to Instagram. No shame to those who do, but it just doesn't sit well with me personally. I've really struggled with this and it ends up being that I hardly have things to share, especially over my weekends. This is still very much a work in progress and I'm sure it will change as time goes on, but for now, I have come up with a few "rules" to help me with what and when to photograph/film.

1. Am I going to want this photo/video for a memory? (i.e. would I take this if I didn't have social media?)
2. Will this take me away from participating in the event? 
3. Am I hindering anything by taking photos or videos? (if I can't do it under the radar and without disruption, I don't want to do it?)
4. What is the purpose of this content? (Am I just going to share it on Stories once or is it reusable for multiple things?)

I want to share personally. I want to bring people along for the journey. But I don't want it to come at the cost of actually living the journey. There are people who I follow who seem to do this effortlessly. (It is social media so who knows really but that's how it appears). I do not have that gift so I have to work harder at it. All I know is, I don't want my personal brand to come at the expense of my personal life. 

Do you relate to this? Even if you're not a business owner, maybe you understand the struggle with sharing on social media. I'd love to hear what your solutions have been! What works for you or maybe, what hasn't worked for you? Let me know in the comments!