It has happened in a LOT of my dreams.  I find myself taking photos of things.  Usually, they are of gorgeous sights, landscapes, cultural/historic buildings or people that I admire...(My dreams have vivid colours.  I can remember taking pictures of a colourful bright sky etc.)  
In my dreams, I take these pictures so I can remember and keep that image...and it happens while I'm on a train looking out the window, or in a plane, or walking...

So you can imagine the disappointment when I wake up, knowing that I didn't really see what I saw, nor do I get to keep those pictures.

What message is all this photo-taking trying to tell me?
Is it just confirming my aspiration to travel and see beautiful sights?  Or does the symbolism of a camera mean that I want to hold on to the past?

Any opinions are welcomed.

Probably neither of these exactly.

If you were the one taking photos in your dream, this symbolizes your need to hold on to a feeling, or an image of yourself, from a point in your life that's now in the past.

Taking photos is symbolically the same as wanting to store these images (and the memories they invoke) away in your unconscious mind, to be brought out into the light of day whenever you feel the need to resurrect or reactivate pleasant memories of your past.

This is something completely different from you wanting to continually hold on to or live in the past where you are attempting to escape from the pain of reality by withdrawing into yourself on a long term basis (very unhealthy), and is in fact a useful psychological coping mechanism to help you through more difficult times in future, but only up to a point.

As long as dredging up these cherished memories does not prevent you from living the rest of your life in the process, I see it as a positive thing to do. While your everyday conscious mind may not have access to these stored subconscious memories, your dreaming mind can easily do this whenever needed. The images and the pleasant memories associated with each of them have not been lost, but are deeper below the surface and are perfectly safe.

eye_of_tiger dream

Hey Thanks EoT.
I was thinking that these dreams just reflected how much I wanted to 'get out there'.

Yes, I'm always the one taking photos in my dreams.  I've read that it symbolizes a need to hold on the something in the past, like you said.  But none of the things I've taken photos of were things that have happened to me. So I can't say that these dreams make me live in the past.




I totally understand that.  When I take photos in my dream, my thinking is always "This is beautiful - it will be such a great memory!"   I guess another reason is that I want there to be proof that I've seen a particular sight or person.