i have a friend who does a lot of photography for moe. who says he feels naked without a camera.  he\'s more on the TKA / derickW level of photography but to each their own.  diff\'rent strokes for diff\'rent folks.

i am a person who loooooves to take pictures.  But i get what you are saying.   When I went to wilco, i was trying to take video and pictures...and half way through, i was mad at myself for just not soaking up the moment and living in it and appreciating what i was hearing.  So i put away my camera and resisted the urge to yank it out again.   you can miss a lot when you are clicking around.    It was the first concert that i actually realized that.   I kind of made a mental note to not take my camera to any shows from now on.  

Also, another thing i\'ve been working on, less cell phone.  Ugh.  I feel like the whole world is texting and calling and not paying attention to the people right in front of them.

drew is clearly upset that i tagged him in a couple of facebook photos.

i do it for the same reason that i take setlists with notes, record audio, and record video. i like to document events that i attend, especially ones where i have myself a rad time. i like being able to go back later on and look at/listen to said event again. i like to catch my friends making funny faces. i like that i live in an age where "film" is essentially unlimited (hello 32GB SD card!) and i\'m able to try things and just hit delete later if it comes out bad. i like having a brain that can handle the enjoyment i get from the music and the enjoyment i get from taking pictures simultaneously. i\'ve owned a digital camera since 2001 and have been doing this long before we were tagging each other on facebook.

while we\'re at it, why do people socialize at shows? drink? eat? go to the bathroom?

I agree with ya, Drew - not that it\'s bad to take pictures, but I hate when I\'m trying to enjoy a show, and my peace is shattered by a constant "FLASH!!!!" every few seconds... it does get to be annoying ( :lol: Whaley got some great pics, though, so I\'ll forgive him! )

anyone complaining about their "peace" being shattered by flashbulbs at a breakfast show with johnny "the seizure" upstate on lights = :lol:

true that.....we all know how much i just love my big sunglasses....but man he can really hurts a girls blue eyes fo sho....:lol:

Why do so many people here spend their time taking pictures at every Breakfast show? I would much rather just listen and enjoy it. What satisfaction do you folks get from taking 80 some odd pictures every night? (I\'m referring, of course, to amateur photogs, not those of you who do it for the band)

The answer is quite simple.  Taking pictures at the show is a perfectly legit means for some people to enhance their visceral enjoyment of the moment.  That\'s all it is.  It\'s exactly the same as drinking at a show.  To some it seems totally silly to spend 15-30 minutes of a show at the bar acquiring drinks and then dealing with the possession of the drinks (keeping track of it, not spilling it etc.) rather than just listening to the music.  But to many others drinking enhances their visceral enjoyment of a show.  Each action has equal potential to be distracting for both person doing it and to the people around them.  (Personally, I get more annoyed by people spilling their beer on me than by a camera flash.)  Since drinking has been around much longer than digital photography, it is generally more accepted.  But recording at shows is here to stay, in fact, it will only become more and more prevalent so you kind of need to deal with it if it annoys you.  You have way too many shows to go to to be getting annoyed by people taking pics.  In fact, any truly smart venue is selling digital disposable cameras at the bar.

i like to document events that i attend, especially ones where i have myself a rad time. i like being able to go back later on and look at/listen to said event again.  

while we\'re at it, why do people socialize at shows? drink? eat? go to the bathroom?

Exactly, well put.