New Quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens...
Two years ago I decided I needed to purchase a small, slim, point-n-shoot camera to carry in my purse. I felt that I was missing some real photo gems. I would be driving in the early morning, to my college teaching job, and spot a small herd of deer in the early morning mist, or, it could be a gorgeous sunset on my way home.
I was missing some great photo opportunities. I don’t carry that big camera bag, loaded with lenses and assorted accessories on a daily basis. I pull it out when I’m deliberately going out to photograph. It is heavy and bulky and not something that I would feel comfortable leaving in my car.
I was not photographically “ready” when I saw something that caught my eye. Thus began the search for the ideal small camera for me. It took months of looking at them, reading reviews, deciding what features I needed and what I could live without.
My new camera needed to be small and light. The optics needed to be good. I could forfeit a lot of zooming. I wanted as many mega pixels as I could get for a reasonable cost. I wanted the ability to set the camera on manual, so that I could control the f/stops and shutter speeds. I wanted the ability to turn off the flash. The control buttons needed to be well placed and make sense. The LCD, on the back, needed to be large enough to get a good idea of what I had on playback. The ability to zoom in on the playback, to see if my subjects eyes were indeed open, etc., was a plus.
With my wish list intact and all the reviews read and assessed I finally made my purchase. I vowed to carry that camera with me everywhere, in my purse. It has proved to be absolutely great for those quick, impromptu subjects that all of a sudden appear in your life.
Because it is always handy, I’m snapping away at subjects that would have been passed over before. I’ll take pictures of a flower or insect as I walk by. I’ll pull over and capture that pasture full of sheep at dusk. I’ll pull it out at sporting match and photograph friends.
It is easy, quick and convenient.
At the college, we are adding an addition onto our Studio building. Each morning as I walk past the construction, I snap a photo. Eventually I’ll have a little slide show of the building coming into form.
The piece de resistance occurred this past Tuesday. We were having dinner at a new sports bar in our area. We discovered during dinner that a sports radio talk show would be originating from this restaurant, while we were there.
Imagine our surprise to see and hear this event, featuring the new quarterback for the Ravens, Joe Flacco, as well as Sports Hall of Fame great Tom Matte (Baltimore Colts). Well Joe Flacco is a real hit in the Baltimore area, where we have been yearning for a quality quarterback for years. He had a great showing in his first start for the team and he is all the rage. You can’t even find a team t-shirt with his name on it anywhere, Everyone is sold out.
I saw other restaurant patrons taking shots with their phones. That of course is a real possibility for capturing the moment, but the quality is less than wonderful. But, hey…I was equipped. Yahoo! I even had a small amount of zoom (3x) to get in closer without being obnoxious.
Well let me tell you, I hit paydirt! I got a few nice shots of Joe Flacco and Tom Matte even posed for a shot with my husband. In all it was a neat surprise. I must confess, as we drove home, I was feeling a bit smug, about that little camera that is always in my purse.
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