For the first time in nearly a week I felt like a photographer again. When I'm in pain nothing seems fun. Not bad movies on the TV. Certainly not food. Or coffee. Not even walking around with cameras. It's tunnel vision thing. In the anxiety prone mind one is concentrating all cognizant powers on being hypervigilant for any change in symptoms or intensity of pain that may lead to a worse outcome. Everything else just gets blocked out. But when you wake up and the pain is nearly all gone life slowly progresses back to homeostasis. And that's where I got to this afternoon.
To be honest I really didn't care whether my afternoon "adventure" yielded any "keeper" photos and I had no expectation of getting any "bangers." (again, the UK "togs" are out to destroy words!!!). I just wanted my share of a perfect afternoon. Perfect weather with the "mercury" rising to 74°, clear skies and lots of funny looking tourists to mingle among. The joy of being out on the streets.
I took the easiest and most fun camera in the inventory along with me. Of course, it's the Leica DLUX8. The camera always finds some way to amaze me. Today it was the low noise at a high ISO setting. I was photographing a close up of bolo ties at the Maufrais Hat Shop without paying any attention at all to the auto-ISO settings. The camera was trying to please me by setting my "minimum" shutter speed request of 1/500th but also trying to keep to ISO 6400 or under. The camera made the decision for me by maxing out the ISO at 6400 but dropping the shutter speed to 1/320th of a second. Culminating in the correct exposure.
Silly me. With the camera's very good image stabilization and the fact that the bolo ties weren't moving anywhere very quickly I think I could have dipped down all the way to ISO 200 at a 1/15th of a second without peril or failure. But today's walk was about enjoyment and not focusing like a laser on settings.
I needn't have worried because the camera did a great job stifling noise and making the file pop for me. The camera is like the border collie of cameras. Fast and ready to please.
I also remembered how much I liked the focal range of 24mm to 75mm (ff =equv.) which covers about 95% of what I shoot. (Sorry, I don't do BIF or shooting wildlife from 600 yards away, in a blind. Just fun stuff).
It's mostly the same stuff I've been shooting maniacally over the last year or so. But sometimes, when you just want the complete experience to be fun you go with what you know.
The bolo ties referenced above in the copy.
Again, ISO 6400. Wow. Love it.
So, I survived this bout of kidney stones and lived to get back outside and play. Like a kid with a favorite toy. It take some of us a life time to get back to living more like a child. More free and playful. Some never get back there ... but I don't have coffee with them.
The DSM.V might have something interesting to say about people who are always too serious. Too obsessed with "correct" procedure. I'll have to go back and see what it says.
Stay chill. Be happy. Play with your favorite toys and don't let the bullies tell you there's only one way to correctly have fun!!!
8 comments:
Welcome back to the Land of the Living, Kirk! Glad the healing is going well and that you’re having fun again. And don’t forget to drink more water - especially after drinking a diuretic like coffee.
So sorry to hear about having kidney stones. I have had numerous episodes over the years and I would not wish that pain on anyone. It was getting to the point that I was having multiple events per year. My most recent stones were uric acid stones and my doctor decided that I should start taking allopurinol and I have not had any stones in over two years.
db
Have you ever noticed how serious little children look when they are playing, especially, alone? It’s a gift we lose, and hopefully regain later as you have. Happy to see you back in the land of the living.
Norm
I recall sometime in the past encountering the notion that play in childhood is practice for dealing with the world. Whether that is correct about childhood activities or not is unclear to me, but I am pretty certain that the way to cope these days is to spend as much time playing, as possible. It’s great to hear that you are feeling well enough to spend time having some fun..
I thought "bangers" were sausages, as in "bangers and mash." Keith Richards has an excellent recipe for them in his autobiography, "Life."
Relieved to hear you survived the kidney stone thrash. It made me remember when a colleague was similarly afflicted while we were on the overnight flight to London. It was not a fun trip.
What!? No sliders on those bolos? But seriously, glad you're out & about again. Looking forward to mennequin porn again soon.
Did you pass the little bastards or did the doc yank 'em out? Nice pix, BTW.
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