Look

I got a new thought a minute… ha ha. Photos trigger thought. I guess I am a visual thinker.

Old cameras. The first camera I handled was an Argus C3. In its time it was a workhorse many photographers were quite familiar with. Me? Once! One time! I used it once. One roll of film. It was a dismal disaster. No histrionics please.

Meanwhile Colleen has a collection of old beer steins… for me, it is nice to look, but not much triggers any desire to collect old cameras… except for the right price. Mostly I pass on the camera and just have a look as it passes by me. Film is dead, effectively dead, as in it is a specialty item to have and shoot a film camera now. There is no need to make things harder. I am plenty busy mastering digital image capture. “Looking” is the right price for me.

Almost

Film is dead. Long live film.

Ok?! Point and shoot? iPhone lives! Point and shoot? What is it? Do I need it? Do you?

Ah! Another gearhead conversation. Does good equipment make a photographer?

Almost? I have two point n shoots in regular use. New models come and go. Sony has 7 models each with advanced features added after success with model “1.” Better? Really? Pricey??!! For sure! Canon has the G7 III.

I have the Sony VI and the Canon G7X. Envy? Do I need to upgrade? The lesser model has held value and price. Uh? No. I think I take good pictures with what I got and newer is not better if everything is working…. I keep telling myself. I keep trying to convince myself… I wish I had made a birthday wish…but then again I walk around with only a $100 bill in my wallet. What’s in yours? … little did I know that my Sony was soon to be replaced – involuntarily.

Last

Sept 2014

I had just purchased the Nikon D610 a few days before. I guess I was carrying two camera bodies. My last shoot was the West Indian day parade. Nice. Colorful. Naked women – not quite – galore. It was a show! No selfie today. I was all about the pageantry and spectacle. Photo op!

This is the last shoot – mostly – with my trusty Nikon D200. Seven years. Not bad service for a digital camera. I was not compelled by changes in camera technology till then.

First

Nikon D200. I got the camera the day before. July 10, 2007. I was in Maine. It was a big purchase anticipated with much fanfare. The camera arrived just in time for my fateful attempt to travel across Maine to see the puffins.

The shot of the day…

…occurred in the early morning hours as I traveled east across to the coast. Fog! … in the valley as the sunrise peeked in the horizon.

The shot of the day. I never did see the puffins that day. The sea was too rough to land the boat on the island. So I chummed… threw up over the side as the up and down motion made me sick as a dog.

Yes, shot of the day… at the beginning and in the dark.

What’s first?

On or about August 28, 2014 we did our first selfie. We were in contact again in May but it took some months before I made a trip home from Saudi. Colleen never did get to visit me there. Saudi red tape and restrictions…

New camera. Ha! The search was pretty easy. Nikon D610. It was about the second thing we did. I bought the camera shortly after returning to NY. And the first thing on the memory card was ID. I take a pic of my driver’s license in case the card or camera get lost. Second, we did a selfie. Neat!

Free. Freedom?

Title?? Digital is free. At least it seems virtually nearly free because storage is so inexpensive. Film cost $$.

So, I shoot multiple images. Click, click, click. Free. Surely, one image will be the “one.” Indeed there are plenty of images with focus issues and so forth. More images insure success?! Not really. But, I still like to think so. So many of my old slides are not quite good enough. It is what I have. No backs. So, I shoot camera, not iPhone, and I shoot early and often.

I fear my argument falls upon deaf ears. The vast majority of images out in the world were/are iPhone not camera. It’s progress. Better? I know I can do better with camera than phone.

…o r another

a la Magritte. No, I am not so presumptuous. However, this image evoked his memory. Lose the pipes. Alas, at the time I did not consider them. The image of the view camera…. I should know better. I admonish myself for failing to get the distraction out. A certain starkness does remain. Almost… no cigar. Better? Can I do…. Sure, but I won’t be back again. Alas.