I have mixed luck with cameras. Sometimes I get spectacular shots, but mostly I wind up with something unexpected. That’s probably why many people who buy cameras use just the automatic setting, because little or nothing can go wrong.
Then they forget to take the lens cap off.
Among my most epic errors; I once shot a sequence of the sunrise at Ocean City, NJ. I got home to develop the film (yes, it was in those days), and found that I had no film in the camera to start with.
Then there was the time I took my point-and-shoot Kodak to a concert. From the viewfinder I could see everything clearly, but the pictures that came back looked like I was in the next county rather than in row 65. Then there was the time I had an opportunity to take a photograph of actor Barry Bostwick and two of my friends with him. The place was crowded, and nobody was budging to let me back up and get everybody in the frame, so I wound up with a full head shot of him and about 25 percent of each of them. At least they were recognizable.
One time I was getting a shot of a family with a growing youngster, and I hiccuped and got a “Frankenstein” shot with the parents’ scalps cut off squarely on top.
Sure, the greats like Annie Leibovitz didn’t score cover-ready shots all the time, either, but in the years since I started taking pictures we’ve progressed to digital cameras, and they are just as complicated as the film versions.
At least, most of the time, you run a low risk of running out of room to store your photos.
A coworker of mine is a great photographer, and her camera and lens knowledge is out of this world. She prefers social settings like weddings, and equestrian events for her subjects, but she also catches the occasional woodland creature or landscape. She invited me to pick up her camera and check out the BIG lens that could make a flea at a half mile away seems like it’s about to kiss you on the lips. While getting it up to my eyes to look through it, I got an accidental shot of the building’s parking lot.
In all fairness, I haven’t been taking a lot of photos over the years, because life has gotten in the way, but I’m taking it slow and trying to get back some of my past joy in looking at the world around me and capturing moments. The other day I tried to grab a shot of some African violets, but the focus had other ideas; the picture looked like I had shot the flowers from the next county. I wanted a close-up, dang it, and the camera wanted some background in the shot.
You know you have problems when your electronics dictate what they will do for you.
So on to the manual for some troubleshooting. It seemed I was not in automatic mode, but I don’t know what mode I was in, so I had to go through an entire menu of adjustments here, updating settings there and saving changes in the other place, for a shot of a pot of flowers.
At least I can take my time renewing my skills at this craft, as violets don’t gallop away while you’re composing a shot.
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