For decades, the media struggled to capture Queen Elizabeth II

"I didn't get a picture of her. I was so mesmerized."

When I stood on the street outside Westminster Abbey in 2011, wedged into a crowd watching the arrivals and departures at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, smartphones and digital cameras were everywhere. People held them up to take pictures of nothing, of everything. Of the horses, the carriages, the other people, and the waving Will and Kate pennants. They struggled to get their cameras positioned so they weren't blocked by other people's cameras. Were they tall enough, could they bend enough, could they reach far enough to get the shot?

But the gray-haired woman near me who had been handing out snacks and chattering excitedly the entire time missed the photo she wanted the most: She