Boxed in

No Halloween shot from me today, I'm afraid. No hint of a trick or treat at the Gladders' home. I saw a pumpkin being carried through the streets of Manchester, but that was as good as it got. So here we have a spritely gymnast performing outside Manchester City Council's Number One office.

Thank you for all the comments, stars and hearts for the murmuration yesterday. Yes, it was extraordinary to witness. The beauty of digital cameras is that the image is captured and can be quickly shared.

I do think, though, that photography does sometimes get in the way of savouring the special moment. Caroline was going all goose-bumpy at the visceral experience of the sights and sounds of the massive flock, while I was busy firing away glued to the viewfinder. I was aware of the morphing shapes, but the detail that emerged on the chosen image was unexpected. I hadn't seen it at the time. The irony is that the photograph preserves the moment perhaps for eternity, but for the observer who is there, the experience through the viewfinder is a blinkered view of the real event.

When I went to Tanzania 20 years ago, I consciously left the camera behind. I was frustrated by those people who were more driven by capturing the event than really experiencing it as it happened. I have vivid memories of wonderful experiences, as fresh as if they happened yesterday, but I have nothing to show for it that I can share with someone who was not there. There is a balance to be struck. Yesterday, I stopped taking photographs and just stood and stared, but by then the main show was over.