Airborne Observations

Flying to Beijing now.

Last night on the dunes at one point I was wondering about sand damage to my camera, worried. I started thinking about what the camera’s purpose is, how it alters the memory of things. I tried to take a ‘mental’ picture of the scene.

The camera is just a tool, a physical thing someone else created that it supposed to enhance memory, but can any external thing influence memory than the brain and memory itself?

The only reason I’m still thinking about this weird and abstract concept is because of seeing the dead woman today. I didn’t have a chance to take a photo, but if I had one, would I want a photographic memory of that? It was a visceral experience, not exactly pleasant, but definitely something that will stay in my memory forever, maybe even better without a photo.

The fact that I had been practicing ‘noticing’ things just before seeing it is also odd. Had I put myself into a state of ‘vision’ by performing that exercise that allowed me to see something otherwise I wouldn’t have?