Say cheese
I just got my first digital camera, a Canon Powershot S200 Digital Elph. As an ex-professional advertising photographer, I'm blown away. This tiny pocket size camera is simply astounding for its ability to produce beautiful results in low- or harsh light situations. After years of lugging around a Nikon F-series and a ton of glass, or even worse, a studio view camera, anvil cases full of strobe equipment, props and backgrounds, I'm getting lazy. I don't want to be a hunchback under the groaning weight of all that equipment; a small pocket camera will do. I take mine everywhere.
I'm still learning its limitations, resolution being one of them. But for sheer photographic fun, this little Canon is hard to beat. In the many years that I was an advertising photographer, shooting gradually stopped being a joy and started being work. Where I used to revel in the joy of discovery, advertising photography turned into a problem-solving exercise. All the layouts and designs were pre-planned. The spontaneity was missing. The hours were long. And while I had some great days, the hard work took the fun out of shooting.
That's why my little Canon digital camera is making photography fun again. It's like the first time I discovered Kodachrome. Maybe I wanted to stop being professional and re-learn how to be an amateur. To make mistakes and not be slammed for them. To take a photograph just because I want to, without needing approvals, without having to submit to vicious critiques.
Maybe that's what's been so wrong with much of my professional life. I've worked as a creative for a good many years, in a profession with very high standards. That's both the blessing and the problem: the standards. Sometimes, the bar was raised so high that you could never please anyone. The professional business of creativity, something that should be spontaneous and fun, started becoming anything but.
My little digital Elph is helping me remember why I chose this path in my life to begin with.
Here's to making mistakes all over again. And loving it. Here's to Kodachrome redux. Say cheese. I'm back.
I just got my first digital camera, a Canon Powershot S200 Digital Elph. As an ex-professional advertising photographer, I'm blown away. This tiny pocket size camera is simply astounding for its ability to produce beautiful results in low- or harsh light situations. After years of lugging around a Nikon F-series and a ton of glass, or even worse, a studio view camera, anvil cases full of strobe equipment, props and backgrounds, I'm getting lazy. I don't want to be a hunchback under the groaning weight of all that equipment; a small pocket camera will do. I take mine everywhere.
I'm still learning its limitations, resolution being one of them. But for sheer photographic fun, this little Canon is hard to beat. In the many years that I was an advertising photographer, shooting gradually stopped being a joy and started being work. Where I used to revel in the joy of discovery, advertising photography turned into a problem-solving exercise. All the layouts and designs were pre-planned. The spontaneity was missing. The hours were long. And while I had some great days, the hard work took the fun out of shooting.
That's why my little Canon digital camera is making photography fun again. It's like the first time I discovered Kodachrome. Maybe I wanted to stop being professional and re-learn how to be an amateur. To make mistakes and not be slammed for them. To take a photograph just because I want to, without needing approvals, without having to submit to vicious critiques.
Maybe that's what's been so wrong with much of my professional life. I've worked as a creative for a good many years, in a profession with very high standards. That's both the blessing and the problem: the standards. Sometimes, the bar was raised so high that you could never please anyone. The professional business of creativity, something that should be spontaneous and fun, started becoming anything but.
My little digital Elph is helping me remember why I chose this path in my life to begin with.
Here's to making mistakes all over again. And loving it. Here's to Kodachrome redux. Say cheese. I'm back.
posted by Brian at
7:24 PM
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