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It seemed a good idea to go for a drive after lunch yesterday and it was. It’s never a bad idea.
Sometimes though, there are frustrations.
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One that I should mention is that, for reasons I have yet to comprehend, my photographs do not all get down-loaded in sequence.
When I’ve taken only a few it’s not a problem because I easily recognise them. But when there are more than say 50, I’m apt to post them out of order. I’m guessing you don’t mind about that, but it annoys me.
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A bigger challenge, such as we had yesterday, is when you realise that you are travelling in the exact opposite direction than the one with all the perfect lighting and spectacular views.
A little planning might help, such as noting the time of day and plotting an appropriate course. Somehow we missed that bit and headed south.
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There were so many beautiful Fall colours. All in the rear view mirror. Not wanting to seem ungrateful or difficult, I tactfully voiced the opinion that perhaps I ought to travel in the back seat. This was regarded as not a very good idea.
Never mind. We’d be coming back.
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Well yes, but not the same way.
Ah well. Keep looking forward!
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The way the roads wind, you end up facing every direction sooner or later.
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Besides, the sun was in and out.
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After a while, it seemed as if the Sun was having fun with us.
“Hello! I’m over here!”
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“On these nice trees here.”
“Behind that field of tall corn.”
(That I couldn’t over the top of.)
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Sun and driver were in sync.
“There’s a great shot!”
…the man would say…
…pausing beside a thick hedge.
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Taking pictures on the fly!
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Occasionally we can actually stop, in which case I get out. But all too often it’s not possible, or the driver deems it not safe.
On my own I’d be inclined to be reckless!
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And far too often I see a picture just as we sail past.
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Lately there has been another annoyance, which I am sure is my own fault and no doubt has a solution, if I ever get around to investigating.
My camera constantly tells me that in order to continue, I must turn it off and back on.
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Inevitably, this occurs at a particularly inconvenient moment.
It is part of a lifelong curse.
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For as long as I can remember, each time there has been an image I especially wanted to capture, for one reason or another it did not happen.
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There was so much to photograph in Tibet and I did.
But I was on the lookout for yaks which turned out to be scarce, where we were.
The minute one turned up?
Camera refused to function.
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Ten minutes later, yak disappearing behind us, it was all systems go again.
Other times the curse operated differently.
Once I took a whole roll of really colourful pictures at the Red Fort in Delhi. When I suspiciously did not reach the end of the roll, I realised it was because I hadn’t loaded one.
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Sometimes the picture got taken but did not print.
If it was once, I’d think I imagined taking it, but I had it happen several times.
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Perhaps I inherited this quirk from my mother.
She had a tiny Minox “spy” camera that took rolls of 50 pictures. After we had been on holiday once Mum discovered that a piece of film from an earlier roll had got jammed in the lens, obscuring a large part of every photograph.
The camera was tiny. You wouldn’t have thought it possible for such a thing to happen.
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Countless times, I’ve noticed something out of a window but the camera’s been in another room.
Or the subject vanished before I could get the camera turned on, never mind focused.
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When we got home yesterday, one of the hills was beautifully lit up so I made haste to the wall at the end of the field.
And promptly the light went out.
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It’s as well I never aspired to be a professional photographer!
Not that I imagine professionals are without challenge. I know they they need bottomless reservoirs of patience.
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Especially wildlife photographers!
In Washington State I had access to one of the studios of Thomas Mangelsen.
It would be impossible to choose a favourite subject of his as there are so many, but I adore swans and I have a collection of those photographs and several owls.
They are probably my most cherished possessions.
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Concorde photographs too.
For a totally different reason.
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And a book about a very dear friend.
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The mention of possessions reminded me of the time long ago, when I had to evacuate my apartment before a hurricane. I didn’t have all that much but I found it was a good exercise to evaluate what really matters.
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Mohammed, my cat, was taken to shelter at a friend’s house. It turned out he would have been safe staying put since a tree nearly fell on her house. But it didn’t and only a black off the beach, there was every chance things could have been bad at my place.
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Years later, after I had moved, there was a very much worse hurricane that did quite dreadful damage there, yet as bad as that was, it is hard to imagine anything quite as awful as the recent hurricane in the south.
And in Florida tonight they will be hit by another that is predicted to be very destructive.
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Anyone who denies the seriousness of climate change is a fool. Over my lifetime I have seen it and I didn’t need a scientist to tell me.
for now I am going to finish with a poignant photo,
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This dairy farm had to close after the farmer died 6 years ago. It was poignant to see Mickey Mouse got left behind.
Thank you, Carolyn, for your interesting observations on the way cameras “think”! As I am not a professional photographer, I think your achievement is great!
Joanna
I can’t begin to imagine the horrors that so many have gone through, and are yet to face, due to the hurricanes.
When “camera not working” happens to me – yes, it’s not just to you Carolyn – then I get so frustrated that I put the camera in its pouch and store it away … especially when we’re driving. Then I just enjoy the beauty with my own eyes (but really I’m only fooling myself). I’m glad your camera worked when you took that picture of the horse – it’s beautiful. Yes, all the people who are affected by all these hurricanes – it must be heartbreaking to experience it one after the other. Oh, and the abandoned Mickey Mouse is a sad site …
Mickey Mouse does look suitably sad on his perch. The best photos I never took were the ones in places where it was not safe to stop the car.
Best wishes, Pete.
Don’t start me on cameras that don’t work! Sometimes technology can drive you mad.
Your weather is not too dissimilar to here in Brisbane right now…