> Date:    Fri, 14 Mar 2003 22:28:43 -0500
> From:    "Donald B. White"
> <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Conspicuous photography
>
Having taken pictures seriously from the age of 14, I
am uncomfortable with the amount of attention a camera
attracts.
Sometimes I have preferred to make mental notes and
write something later.  They can't see me memorizing.
But a picture is worth 1,000 words and is a great
assist to memory.  The silence and low-light
performance of my little digital camera helps it to
remain inconspicuous, although digicams are still
unusual enough to attract attention. Quite often,
though, people are not aware I have been taking
pictures.

I tend to take it with me a lot and take a lot more
pictures than at any time since I stopped having my
own darkroom.

-------------------------

Don

I agree with your observations.
I've floated in and out of various forms of
recreational photography, mainly with a 35mm Olympus
OM-10 (because it was the lightest standard 35mm at
the time I bought it). Spent a decade concentrating on
landscape photography (coinciding with my bushwalking,
field science, botany stage in life), and most of the
past decade trying to be an architectural
photographer.  Since giving in to the digital push
last March, I've barely touched my 35mm.  Don't like
the digital for high quality images; don't like the
limited battery life; don't like the inability to
change lenses.  What I love is the ease of
concealment, the ability to take photos without
putting the camera to your face, so you can maintain
eye contact with the subject.  Used to hate taking
photos of people, because it was so hard to get them
natural.  Now, it is still hard, but there is a
greater chance of unobtrusively getting a relaxed
image.  Don't think I'll ever become a serious people
photographer, but I sure think there will be more
people in my photos from now on.

On the alternatives to photography, I experimented
early last year on a 4 day mountain bike trip in the
Snowy Mountains with not taking my camera.  Instead, I
took my notebook, and tried to capture the special
images and moments in poetry. Some of it worked, some
of it didn't, but I sure as hell remember that I
wasn't forever concentrating on trying to look at the
landscape in terms of rectangular boundaries.

Cheers
david

http://mobile.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Mobile
- Check & compose your email via SMS on your Telstra or Vodafone mobile.

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>