Becoming present with a camera

An interesting quote from Alister Benn of Expressive Photography:

A camera, when used gently, pins the mind to the present moment. It interrupts the spiralling loop of past and future. It asks you to respond to sensation rather than narrative. Light on sand. Wind against skin. The temperature of shadow. Sensation becomes perception. Perception becomes memory. Memory becomes emotion. That sequence is always happening. Photography simply makes it visible.

I like the notion of using a camera gently. Perhaps that is why I increasingly use my camera’s touchscreen rather than its viewfinder. Looking through a viewfinder detaches me from my environment in a way that using a touchscreen doesn’t. Somehow photography with a viewfinder feels more aggressive – ‘shooting’ my subject; the camera as sniper rifle.