taking photographs changes the way we experience the world, but reviewing them can change the way we remember the experience

Henkel found “a photo-taking-impairment effect”—photographing the object led students to remember fewer objects and fewer details than those who simply observed the art. In a second study, she asked students to observe the objects and then to photograph them using the camera’s zoom. Instructing students to zoom in reversed the impairment effect, improving the memories of the photographers over those of the observers.

via A Thousand Words: Writing From Photographs : The New Yorker.