Photography - Post 16

I've been absent from this blog for a few days, but not absent from my computer. I've been traveling to many other parts of the U.S.A. and the world each day through the joyous discovery of Photo Blogs. Many of the sites I've visited can be found by clicking here: City Daily Photos . Other wonderful photography sites that have quickly become my favorites can be found in the sidebar on the right hand side of my blog.

There was a major downside to my marathon sitting and browsing , however, not limited to puffy ankles and total abandonment of daily housework. I am afraid that the sins of envy and covetousness entered my heart. I currently use a Kodak D4530 camera for all my photos, having only within the past two years abandoned film cameras. For any number of reasons, I really, really need to be content with what I have, but over the past few days I became convinced that, given a wonderful-state-of-the-art digital camera, I could be transformed in the blink of an eye into a wonderful photographer!

Sigh! What a delusion! I need to get over it, use what I have (point and click) to the best of my ability, and pray for forgiveness.

To say that I have taken a lot of photographs in my lifetime is an understatement. I have boxes and boxes of photos, some of which date back 60 years (and most of which need to be consigned to File 13.) I've been snapping one thing after another since one of my uncles gave me a Kodak Brownie camera in 1948; you know, the one with the square view-finder in the top. I'm sure my parents limited the amount of money I could spend on film, but I had a great time while it lasted, and a few black and white photos taken in those days have survived. Sadly, I have no remembrance what became of the camera.

One of things I always aspired to do was to take a photo that would be good enough to be in The National Geographic magazine. I (perhaps) have come close a couple of times in that I was completely satisfied with how the photo turned out. Both were taken with a Minolta SLR camera (now gathering cobwebs), and were complete accidents, since f/stops and shutter speeds were the same as Ancient Greek to me. Both those photos are on slide film (a passing fancy), and I have no idea how to convert them to a digital images.

I was browsing Digital Photo Challenge earlier this week and read that the person who took a winning photograph had taken one hundred ninety three (193) shots of the same thing before she came up with the one she entered in the challenge! Guess it was worth the effort; she was mightily pleased with her peer-conferred blue ribbon. If that's what it takes to be a wonderful photographer, I'd best just sit back and admire the work of others. Which reminds me -- I need to see if Abraham Lincoln , Hilary , and my French friend whose site name I cannot pronounce, have uploaded more wonderful photos!

Ta!