Dear J-
I remember reading some of those first LiveJournal blogs; each entry was accompanied by a status bar on top, charting mood and music. Right now I have the Suzanne Vega song from Pretty in Pink — Left of Center — running through my head (you’re welcome, by the way). Although we have two eyes, one of them is usually dominant — I’ve talked before about being cross-dominant (right-handed, left-eyed), which has caused no end of grief when bowling (I make a wicked, unintended hook to the left), archery (slapped my face with the bowstring), and photography (I end up spending for a motordrive not always because they sound cool, but also to avoid having the winding lever poke me in the eye).
That particular tale of woe has nothing to do with wanting a more portable camera, though; I already have one that the folks on the van think is much too large (my daily-carry Sony V1) compared to the shirt-pocket cameras of today, and what they say has been, so far, true — there are no collectible point-and-shoots (closest so far would probably be the Panasonic LC1 I sold towards getting a real lens). I’ve just been thinking lately about situations that might justify a belt-carry camera, and I know there must have been some advances in point-and-shoots since the circa 2003 V1. Plus more stuff on my belt makes me more like Batman, and that’s generally a good thing (for me at least; for those who have to be seen with me, well …).
Yesterday after the zoo, which I managed to overlens myself for (too much, too big, too long) again, we stopped by IKEA for lunch; theVet helpfully pointed out that I could have saved myself the extra dollar for five extra meatballs since figgy wasn’t going to eat her portion anyway (we are encountering stiff resistance at mealtimes lately, but as they say, no kid this age has an eating disorder — they’ll eat when they get hungry enough). We intended to walk around and despair at the clever Swedes’ use of small spaces (bottom line, unless I start getting rid of, oh, everything, we’re not going to have a tasteful IKEA home), but she had to try out this chair and that sofa, sprawling out on chaises and chasing the next ottoman and cushion accessory set from each neighboring living room. It was marvelous and maddening, and if I hadn’t taken only the gigantor camera set, I could have caught those memories for later use (“See how crazy you were?”). That’s why you put up with imaging less than state-of-the-art; convenience trumps quality when you need your hands free to participate in life, not just watch it go by.
Mike
Tags: ear worm, ikea, left eye, meatballs, missed, opportunities, photo, suzanne vega, thoughts
Dear J- 
4 August 2009 at 11:08 am |
I much prefer my little camera to Ben’s fancy canon EOS 1, mine is old but practical fuji (F470). Ben’s camera (we call it big Bertha) takes great pictures but is so big, heavy and inconvenient that by the time I want to take a picture its too late because I take too long trying to adjust it and all of that. Ben’s dad gave us both cameras and we keep on waiting to see what kind of camera he is going to give us next.
I’ve always believed Ben and I were the only people who go to Ikea just to eat. When we were really poor in Berkley (we are still poor but back then we were even poorer) we used to go there for their 50 cents hot dogs.
5 August 2009 at 7:48 pm |
I’m too guilty of trying to find the next big thing when it comes to camera gear, although in my case it usually ends up being the next obsolete thing that I can pick up on the cheap. My regular camera is festooned with enough junk to give Ben’s a run for its money in terms of size (theVet rolls her eyes when I take the camera to the Zoo), and I used to walk around with one of these until I decided that life was too short to drag around cameras that didn’t quite fit your style.
IKEA food is surprisingly good for being a trendy pressboard furniture store; we don’t go there often, but we never leave unsatisfied. I just wish I’d had a camera handy, though that can always be remedied …