Sometimes I have this fantasy about giving up photography in favour of just taking photos.

I was at the Ikea – Swedish for 'tax avoidance' – that's most convenient for me to reach by public transit. I'd placed an order for curbside pickup, which meant paying them a $5 surcharge to not go into their store. Expensive, but worth it. 

Of course there's no concession for pedestrians, no concept that their market might include people who don't drive to their stores. So I have to find the only vacant 'pick up' parking space that has a bench near it, and block the seemingly-available spot with a discarded shopping cart to prevent any awkward conversations with confused motorists.

I sent the store a text to tell them my order and 'parking spot' number – 23 – and sat there for about that many minutes. At some point during that time I took this photo. The camera was sitting on the bench beside me.

Sometimes I have this fantasy about giving up photography in favour of just taking photos.

No fussiness. No fancy techniques or clever approaches. No elaborate gear or fretting over camera-bag contents. No outsmarting the scene in front of me. No need to draw imaginary lines, delve into compositional choices, or have long discussions about it. No need for taking a picture to be a big deal at all. 

That would be awesome. 

I should try it some time.

Of course for me even giving up on something requires new stuff, so I've ordered another pinhole camera that might be my perfect photographic machine. And I'm not selling off my more elaborate camera collection, either. But this past year has burned away my interest in empty pretty things, and of the many things I miss from before, that isn't one of them.