This is a picture I did not take

of my friends huddled together on the couch in my dorm building public lounge. It was 2am on a Friday night and four of my friends were hanging out with me. We occupied the three small couches curving around the lounge television; me on the one to the right, two of my friends on the middle couch, and the other two on the left couch. We were listening to music and each of us would take turns requesting songs to show to everyone. While we listened to the music, we would talk about whatever was on our minds. Despite our exhaustion and sleepiness, none of us wanted to risk missing out on this moment. At one point, one of my friends on the middle couch got tired and laid on the shoulder of the person next to them. This scene as viewed from my couch is the moment I wish I could have taken a picture of. The vibe in the room was a perfect mixture of relaxed and euphoric. The reason I do not have a photographic record of that moment is because I did not want to make one of my friends uncomfortable. I am interested in in-the-moment photography, that said, I do not want to make my subjects uncomfortable. I made sure to ask everyone if they are comfortable with me taking spontaneous pictures and one of my friends explained how she does not like pictures taken of her. While I would never regret respecting her boundaries, I can’t help but wonder what that picture would have looked like.