I usually take tons of pictures. It is so easy to snap one after another in this day and age. We don’t develop film anymore, we don’t have to wait to see how a picture turned out, and we don’t have to worry about how many clicks we have left until the last photo has been taken. Yet I realized a picture is never enough.

Plowed fields decorate the country side. Stone houses adorn the hills. Terra cotta comes standard on all the homes in the towns and the colorful facades of those homes send my eyes dancing around. We arrive in the center of a small town and the street is all cobble stone… actual cobble stone. A little boy is kicking a soccer ball against the church because there are no other children around to play. We grab a seat at a café which has a few occupied tables. We sip on Aperol Spritz and enjoy some small bites including capers still on the stems… the biggest capers I have ever seen.

The buildings overlooking the piazza are weathered but still standing. As the sun sets it dances across the old brick buildings, highlighting their character, and retreats from the cobble stone streets, bringing focus to the moss that has made its home between those stones. I smile as my eyes chase the receding sunlight.

Every time I come back to Italy I am filled with the same excitement to be back. The sights, sounds, colors, and smells all fill me with an indescribable joy. I look out at this scene in front of me trying to find just the right photo to take in order to capture this moment… wishing that I could somehow bottle it up and share it with everyone.

As much as you try to capture a moment you can never quite recreate the same feelings as being somewhere in person. That rush of emotion from your first impression cannot be recreated and can be lost if your first reaction is to grab a camera and try to freeze it.

Today many spend their time experiencing life behind a lens. We try to share our lives and experiences with everyone on Facebook, Instagram, etc…when we should really focus first on savoring those moments for ourselves.

Step out from behind the lens.