My birthday present this year, back in early August, was meant to be a digital camera. I’d done my research and come to the conclusion that the best bang for the most minimal buck was the Canon Powershot A70.
Unfortunately, that was right around the time that I became unemployed again. This usually does not worry me in the least, but seeing as how I’m all adult and bewifed and all, we decided to defer the purchase of any non-necessary stuff until I got re-employed, which I recently have been.
Hooray for me, skyrockets in flight, doves are released into skies of deepest azure, the baby jesus laughs with glee, etcetera.
Point being, friends, that the camera was delivered yesterday, and it’s been well over a year since I’ve bought anything for myself other than food and beer, relentlessly frugal as I am and downright cheap as She Who Must Be Obeyed can be, and I’m like a kid with this thing.
Now I don’t know the first goddamn thing about Art and Photography and all that crap, I just want to use this amazing new technology to help me remember. As regular visitors to the ‘bottle may know, I’ve had me some Amazing Adventures, mostly lubricated with whatever chemical stimulant easily came to hand. The problem with that, unfortunately, is that in my dotage I have rapidly fading memories, and rapidly fading images in my brain of who I did, and how what and when I did what I did, never mind why. And very few pictures to help the stories emerge, when I’m in a story-telling mood.
From regret at this deplorable synaptic deficit, therefore, I’ve resolved and now have the technology to make images, on the fly and without expense, to document for myself my life. My Life. Starting now! Not unlike Matt’s new thang, or Shelley’s new photo projects and pursuits (and hopefully career), I guess, but more artless, naturally, and less public. I plan to share little things that I particularly like, but it can be assumed that they may not have anything like the significance for you out there, my friends, that they do for me. Me and my brainfarts.
I am interested in becoming more skilled at seeing, and at capturing images that approximate what I see, but that will come with time and practice, I hope. I have little of either thus far. In the meantime, though, what fun!
Here are a few for you out of the dozens I took today. I don’t know if they’re ‘good’ or not, and I don’t care. I like them and that’s all that matters at this point, and I’m thrilled with the effortless alacrity of it all. I hope you like them too, if only to help you get a better mental image of the place whose portrait I’ve been trying to paint with words alone.
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Hey what can I say Stavros except that you’re off to a great start! I bought the exact same camera a few months ago and have been torturing my readers ever since – mwaaaahaaaha 🙂
I have been trying to gather the readies together to get myself a digital camera for a while now. Apart from the money, the barrier is that the standard of what is available for x dollars keeps getting better and better, so I keep telling myself that I will wait just a bit longer, but I think it is time I took the plunge.
We have a reasonably good digital camera at work and I manage to sneak it out for the weekend every now and again. I love the fact that I don’t have a finite number of shots to use and must therefore make sure every photo counts. I snap away at anything that will stand still for long enough (or hold it down if it won’t) and then delete anything not up to scratch. The camera can fit about 200 high-res shots and I can usually fill that at least twice over in a weekend. Of course, now I have hundreds of photos scattered in various directories on my computer all called things like DSC-000123. I really should organise them in some way. One day.
People man, we want to see some people. Stick that camera in Korean people’s faces and show us their lives 🙂
I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with, STWC.
People suck.
Except you people. You’re the most wonderful people in the world.
No, really!
People suck, but they are also incredibly interesting, more so than inanimate objects.
ALso, dg, I acquired a copy of Adobe Photoshop Album a couple of weeks ago for organizing the old photos and the new. I recommend it highly.
Whoops – missed you there, Geodog.
I know, and you’re right. I was just covering badly for the fact that I’m all shy and stuff.
Lemme figure out how to use my new toy on inanimate objects, then we’ll see how I do with living things.
Also, the place I moved to two days ago is totally unlike the rest of Korea — it might as well be a completely different country, inexplicably populated by people who look Korean.
I’ll explain at length when I get my head out of this pig….
STWC,
I have to confess that I am absolutely no good at sticking cameras in people’s faces myself, which is one of the reasons that I am encouraging you to do it. If you want to see my recent photos of Costa Rica and Berkeley, see http://www.thebishop.net/gallery/.
Not that you asked, but I have couple of recommendations, if I may be so bold. I got an Olympus 510 as a present 2 years ago and have been messing with it ever since.
Irfan View – quick and easy Windows photo editor, does 90% of what you will ever do rapidly and easily. Free, with great plug-ins.
Gallery for a php based server side photo gallery solution. Use version 1.3.3 with the IPTC patch.
Organizing photos by captioning them with IPTC. You want the metadata in the JPEG’s, not in some outside files.
Hope this is marginally useful. I look forward to the results.
Thanks,
I remember getting a drunken but appreciative email about some pix on my site form you so I’ll send a hungover appreciation of yours backatcha 😉
N.B. When you’re pissed off, going with your gut feeling when you walk into a pub & see that the guest ale is called ‘Hopping Mad’ is a good decision…
I am bad at stuffing cameras down other people’s throats, although I enjoy the feeling.
So it is with greast trepidation that I second that advice over there, above, saying that we need people, even if they are these strange mutant Koreans.
Even more so, I would say.
Thanks for the advice, folks! I’ll do my best, but I ain’t promisin’ nuttin’.
So, a month later, are you happy with your choice of camera? I ask because I too came to the conclusion about the A70. I’m out of work, with none in sight, and can’t take photos for nuts but feel this almighty compulsion to do *something* to record or respond to the golden spring light that splashes over the trees and hills.
Yeah, Andrew, it kicks ass.
If I had less limited funds to spend, I’d’ve gone for the leading edge of the wave, but this camera is all I wanted and I’ve barely scratched the surface of what I can do with it.
Happy++