My Camera

I have a lot to say about cameras. I didn't think I did until I uploaded this sketch and started to think about what to say. As I am wont to do - here is a summary list in no particular order...

1. Among other things, I am a part-time assistant event photographer. It is one of the best jobs ever because I get to take pictures with one of my epic best friends and I am an employee, not a boss. Being an employee is different from a boss and after a week of bossing, being an employee is a sweet relief. I just do what I'm told.

2. My favourite lens is my macro lens. My favourite pictures are with a macro lens. On a slow day, I will post a couple of my favourites. A macro lens allows for super-close up work. My best stuff is of flowers ... looking through a lens doing these types of set ups is like deep-sea diving. I am nothing but focus on what's in the viewfinder and the noise of the world disappears.

3. I have a camera that takes "reality" and I also draw. Apart from recording events and macro stuff, I prefer sketches. As crappy as my sketches are, I remember more. Perhaps this is because of the concentration required to render a sketch. Perhaps because it takes more than 1/60th second. Time investment = more meaning? Macro work is like that as well ... I can take dog years setting something up before the click happens.

4. Above is a digital camera. Yes, I can take 2,000 pictures in an afternoon ... but remember the days where film was required? I think I miss the flick, thread, snap skill to loading up a fresh new roll. I miss the sound of film advancing, too. And not having to be so frigging careful about dust when changing lenses.

5a. I like taking candid pictures of people. I'm not an extrovert and my job as assistant is candids. So I'm all about the stealth. People don't see me ... they are too focused on the Real Photographer. It is an opportunity for super-close up people watching. People are really funny. They get all tense when faced with A Picture. Hear the click? Then wait a heart beat and they relax, then I click. Completely different faces ...

5b. People who know each other for a long time have a way of being with each other that I love to capture. The way mothers sweep back hair from their daughters faces, the way girls rest their heads on fathers shoulders ... the way friends jostle and touch and fix and groom and play ... the way lovers hold hands and walk together.

6. This particular sketch is not one of my best. The perspective went wonky at the end of the lens. But here's the thing about sketching, even though it's off in places, it's also completely bang on right in others ... and you absolutely know what you are looking at ... even though it's not perfect. I like how I did the grey (burnt sienna and ultramarine blue - top two mixing colours ever). The lens cap is a disaster. Oh well. Finish it up and turn the page.

7. Everyone has a camera now. By everyone - I mean everyone with a phone, small digital or something big and formal. It's having a funny way of keeping everyone a little more honest ... particularly now that we have the internet where we can share.

I don't think I'm done talking about images. This is enough for now, though.