List: Celebrations of Bad Shots or Imperfection Is a Lost Art: A List of Imperfect Photographs that Honor Your Journey

TEN REASONS TO KEEP IMPERFECT PHOTOGRAPHS:

1 Respect another's privacy.

I am in Hell's Gate National Park near Lake Navisha in Kenya, and as I round the corner of our cabin, I see this man who had been tending the fire built so we would have hot water, and he seemed like Rodin's model. I was really stretching the limits of the zoom; I could have just dared to go a little closer but I was respecting his privacy, and
I think that is more important. Some might say it is not respecting his privacy to take the picture at all, but I believe I am honoring him by capturing his pensive pose. The issue of privacy is one I constantly struggled with as I traveled.

2 Weather doesn't respect that you traveled so far and will probably never be able to come back.

I am on a budget safari in Kenya for only 3 1/2 days and it is raining and raining rather persuasively. If that rain doesn't clear up, this is my only chance, am I just going to end up with nothing, or am I going to stick my head out of the window in the rain with the driver thinking I am nuts and take the picture of the rhinos rumbling by our
car just yards away? After all, this moment, this frustration, this reality both for me and for Africa was part of the journey and should also be remembered.

3 Sometimes the only photograph available is going to have a sideview mirror in it, and that's OK.

I was totally frustrated on our five hour harrowing drive north of Addis because it felt like a National Geographic magazine before my eyes. No one was going to stop for pictures, there were ten of us in the van and our ageed agenda was just to traverse the distance before us. The eight of us for whom the scenes were daily life thought I was crazy because I took pictures right out of the moving car window. Many of the pictures are little more than varied angles of the side view mirror, but some helped bring back my very own National Geographic journey. The one here was taken from the moving truck but managed to escape the ubiquitous side view mirror.

4 Sometimes it is not possible to separate your intended portrait from the surroundings you don't want.

This girl's sad face just drew me in. I wanted so much to capture the look in her eyes, but it was not to be. However, part of her story is that I suspect she spent her life wanting to be a part of what was going on, but always hanging back, afraid to come forward alone.

5 Sometimes there is a windshield between you and your subject.

I actually took this through the windshield of the car in Ethiopia. We were emerging from a dark tunnel in Ethiopia that had not looked entirely convincing would end. You can see the windshield stickers on the right and the top of the car forming the dark line. But I still really liked the way the light broke through the tunnel's darkness.

6 Sometimes you don't realize until you get home the ordinary shots you wish you took.

Here is just am ordinary picture of the bathroom in the $8 hotel where we stayed in Ethiopia. Now I wish we had taken so many more to record that aspect of our budget sojourn. I wish I had taken a picture of the front and inside of every hotel we stayed in, since we stayed in some very unusual places. We saw so many versions of toilets, Once at a museum in Rome, I literally stood there stupidly not being able to figure out how to flush the darn thing. I finally found the 'flusher' in a wall panel that was flush to the wall-no pun intended--well, maybe. I wish I had taken a picture of every version of toilet we encountered on our travels because I never dreamed there were so many ways to flush--another example of American provincialism. I actually had a toilet crash to the floor on me in Ethiopia, but I was too mortified to think about taking a picture. Darn my dignity, it would have been a great picture.

7 Sometimes it is foggy even though you hiked two hours to get there.

Here we are after a difficult hike in the Simian Mountains of Ethiopia for this athletically challenged senior and the spectacular view at the top was --fog. Take the picture anyway; it is part of your journey. Actually, just as our guide was telling us it would not
clear for us, as if on cue from some universal god, the fog lifted and we were able to see, although we never did see the simians, monkeys, which the view was so famous for.

8 Sometimes you get a half decent picture but cannot follow through because you forgot to get the information you need. The picture is incomplete without the information.

I actually told this man I would send him his picture, but he never gave me an address. He was affiliated with World Vision, had been our driver on the unbelievable 5 hour drive in Ethiopia and I truly planned to send him this picture. I did actually send it to the onlu WV address I had, but I doubt it reached him.

9 Sometimes you don't have the courage to approach someone and ask.

We are in St. Peter's in Rome, and there was a group of young people. I think they were from Germany. I was so struck by the fine juxtaposition it would be to have the young man wearing the long, brightly colored PACE cloak standing in front of the altar at St. Peter's. I actually followed him around trying to catch him aligned with the altar, but I never did. Why didn't I just take a chance and go up to him and ask him? I still regret that, but I am glad to have what I have. It reminds me for next time I want to chicken out.

10 Sometimes you are grateful for the shots you can get riding on a bus.

I was enthralled as we drove on the double decker bus through the streets of Rome. I actually struggled to choose to go to the upper deck because I was so exhausted from all our walking, but it was always worth it. Riding through the streets of Rome gave me an overview of this fantastic city, gave me a good sense of local color, from the shopping and avertisements to the worst traffic I have ever seen to the stunning architecture surrounding us. I loved all the little details of architecture everywhere I looked, and this bus ride gave me an opportunity to capture more of them than I ever would have otherwise.

11 ( I get 11 pictures, and there are at least 11 reasons, so here's one more.) Sometimes you don't get the picture you want because someone moves to stand in the way, but sometimes it is still a good picture.

We were visiting out third AIDS orphanage in Ethiopia to take donations; it was late and dark and we had to get special permission for them to unlock the tall corrugated steel gates because we were leaving the next day. As we left, I saw all the children's shoes and boots lined up by the doorway, and I liked the image of the challenging shoes they fill each day. I noticed they were not lined up in pairs, so I wondered if they even had pairs to wear. One of the little boys came out to tell us goodbye, and he changed the picture, but that was OK.