For whatever reason, this thought popped into my mind a few weeks ago, I wrote it down in my notes, and now it's coming to life.

The winning question of the day is: Photographers capture beautiful moments in time, but do they themselves get to experience that moment?

Let me explain where I got this thought from. I have been obsessed (I say that but then forget to take them during fun moments) with taking pictures anytime and anywhere because these summers are limited. Although sometimes I catch myself not actually enjoying these times because of the fact that my face is in my phone trying to take these cute pictures.

That realization led me to the current question about photography. They produce amazing pieces of art, but I'm not talking about the staged photographs where the subject is posing, I'm truly talking about the friends deep in their phones trying to get those cute candid photos.

How can you have a genuinely good time when you're too busy trying to capture and fabricate it?

If you think about it in a different way, a photo is a fabrication or altered single event in time. That specific event will never happen again and you'll never get that same picture, but the moment is the same too, you'll never experience that exact moment again.

So sure you got an awesome picture but did you actually experience the moment in real time or did you miss out?

I realize that there are a lot of questions because I myself don't quite know the answer, it could be yes for some people, and it could be a no for others. Just like our minds, everyone is different.

Now the incredible thing about an experience is that everyone's account of it is different. A group of friends who go hiking together will each have a different memory of it later down the road. So, a picture may be a great way to bring up a certain moment on that trip that a friend would have completely forgotten about.

Pictures certainly are great for that. For remembrance, excitement, love, and other emotions, but is there such a thing as too many photos?

I certainly think so.

If you spend a whole night out with your girls taking pictures on your phone, you're missing out on the wacky conversations, the views driving down the road and the other people around you that don't fit into your camera lens. This more relates to your everyday people who just have a regular smartphone, or who may have one of those Fujifilm polaroid cameras (it's okay I have one too) and not a fancy expensive camera that they use as their career, but it still relates. You're photographing events, so you're a photographer!

What I want you readers to take away from my crazy list of questions is, don't spend your whole life worrying about getting a cute picture for your Instagram or VSCO feed, spend it making exceptional memories that will last you a lifetime. As you read through this article I hope you pondered a large number of questions I threw out there and maybe answered them for yourselves. I've been doing that for about 2 weeks now, haven't gotten too far in my discoveries, but I do know one thing.

I don't want to waste my young adult, glory years staring at a phone screen, and whatever stage you're at in life, I'm hoping you don't either.