By Brady Small | LTVN Reporter/Anchor

I love hiking.

I have been to Zion National Park three times, Bryce Canyon National Park twice, Yellowstone twice, Yosemite once, Mammoth Mountain too many times to count, and so many other places. I have also been obsessed with taking photos since I bought my first $40 camera from Costco.

I make it my mission to take the best photo possible when I’m out in nature, and I usually receive a lot of comments which sum up to “just enjoy the moment.”

I take some offense to that. Why would I hike 5,700 feet up in elevation on Angels Landing, Zion, if not to take in and enjoy God’s creation?

I think people assume I am just taking a quick picture for my Instagram to show my followers I am staying healthy. That’s not it at all.

Experiencing nature is something that cannot be easily replicated; something that is immeasurable to anyone not there directly in the moment. I enjoy trying to do my best to replicate that.

When I see an amazing view, I think about how I want to share that with everyone so they, too can go experience what I am experiencing (seriously, Zion is a must-visit in your lifetime).

Not to rant about social media, but it should be a place for sharing, not comparing. I share the photos I take to show people things I did, not to put myself above them. I feel sometimes that there’s a stigma: “if you didn’t post about it, it didn’t happen.”

Photography is a neat hobby— anyone can do it, and it’s subjective to the person viewing it, if a photo is good or not. But on that note, I think if your motivation is to take photos in order to show people how active you are, that’s not a good reason.

You see, there’s a time and a place to take photos, and there’s got to be a good reason as to when and where that might be.

There are some photos that took me so long to get right and hours to edit, that I won’t even post or share them anywhere. I’ll just save them to my camera roll and be satisfied and happy with what I captured.