AGH! or Why I hate My Camera

I went downtown yesterday to find an art store where I could buy a new sketch pad. It was one of the two things I forgot, the other being my toothbrush. I’ve been trying to take my camera with me whenever I go out to take some snap photos. Many of these, most really, are taken in a shoot from the hip style. That means I keep the camera at hip level and take my shot. It’s tough because you have to get a feel for what the camera will do without any visual confirmation. The trick is not to take random shots— they might not always be exactly what I was trying for, but they all have an intention.

I won’t go into the boring parts about why I like this style, but I will say this. To do snap photography of any kind you need only one thing, the ability to focus and shoot quickly. The problem is that when you shoot from the hip you have to depend on the camera to focus. The other problem is that, if you have a digital camera you need it to have no shutter lag— or the ability to see a few seconds into the future. I have neither of those things.

I would recommend to anyone talking vacation photos and whatnot that they look at the Olympus c-740. But if you are at all serious about photography forget it. I missed out on some really good photos yesterday, my most cherished loss being the beefy dude goosing his wife in front of me on a busy street. One of these days I will get a camera like the Canon 30D or the Nikon D200, until that day I will just have to deal with it.

meter troubleshandbagoiseaux dangereuxBut enough of my moaning. Here are some photos that did come out. The pigeons aren’t that mind blowing, but they were death defying because I had to walk under them to get where I was going. My heart was racing to the sound of plop all around me. Seriously. If I ever title photographs, I will title this one Le Oiseaux Dangereux (The Dangerous Birds sounds much better in french I think). The other two aren’t all that great either, but of the few that worked out these are the ones I liked the best. Most of my shots were blurry because the camera had an extra hard time focusing due to the battery being low.