Image © Danilevici Filip-E via Stock.xchng
I used to love photography.
My daddy and his brothers owned a studio when I was small, and one of my fondest memories was going into the darkroom and watching images appear magically when paper exposed under the enlarger was thrust into a tray of developer. And the acidic smell of developer, one I normally wouldn’t care for, still has a positive connotation from those childhood days.
I even had my own hobby darkroom for years, and loved shooting black and white photos (for some reason, I tend to “see” and frame compositions as they’ll appear in black and white when I’m shooting–I’m not so good with color compositions).
But a few years ago, I gave up photography and retired my Pentax SLR. And not long ago, I gave away all my darkroom equipment.
Why?
Because now that I’m older, my hands are not as steady as they once were, and almost every shot I made was blurry. I decided to give up and let others take care of image capturing.
And then I signed up for a blogging class.
One of the assignments was to set up a flickr account and upload our photos. Say what? I don’t have any photos. Except for those old black and whites, and they’re not digital. Plus, even if I scanned them in and they looked all right, no one would have any interest in using them. And I knew I definitely couldn’t shoot any new ones that would be worth my time or anyone else’s.
But then, one of my classmates (thanks, Pauline!) suggested that I would probably have luck with a phone camera that had steady cam. Hmm. Interesting thought.
I started researching cameras, and I found one well within my budget (Budget? Ha!). I plunked down my plastic, brought it home, and yesterday, I meandered around the Riverwalk on the Blackwater River, about a mile from my home, to try it out, and, surprise, surprise, got some decent images. (See one of them below.)
Yay, for the Sony Cyber-shot with Steady Shot capability!
Gazebo on Milton’s Riverwalk
So, what about you? How do you capture images? Or do you, like I’ve been doing, let others do that for you?
tommielyn.wordpress.com 
Great picture, Tommie Lyn! I didn’t know there was such an option in a camera, either.
Have fun with your new toy!
Thanks, Darcy. And I was surprised there were cameras with that option. And I’m definitely having fun with it.
Nice one Tommie!
Thanks, Yvonne!
Great post, Tommie! It brought back memories and the smells of my college photography class darkroom. My husband and I have a nice digital camera that I barely know how to use. I used to be the picture taker, but he does it more than I do now. I’m getting better at it though. I resisted the digital for a long time–silly me.
Thanks, Diana. It’s funny how we resist some things because they are different from the way we’ve always done them, even if they are easier. I’ll always miss that time under the red safe light, but I suspect that instantly seeing what I’ve shot could become addicting, LOL. (Hmmm. Gotta take stock of my inventory of SD cards…I might need more of them.)
I remember learning to develop film at some point in the distant past…an art class, maybe? No idea! It sure is nice to not have to worry about taking enough film on vacation now, or ruining half a roll with out-of-focus shots!
I remember the days of shooting at least three of every composition, changing the camera settings each time to make sure you have at least one shot with decent exposure, so digital is definitely easier.