20,000 Sunsets Left
This is a post that I've started and restarted a number of times. It's something I often think about when leaving work. I guess it's just time to hit publish.
Once upon a time, I read that you only have so many sunsets in your life. Ok, so it wasn't related to photography, but it still applies. I just turned 30 - no comments! If I live to 120 85, that means I have 55 years left on this photographic planet, which equates to 20,000 sunsets. Sure that seems like a lot, but take away rainy days, boring sky days, too much smog days, etc...and the number gets small quickly. Throw out the days you have to work late, meet friends for dinner, work around the house, and the number of available sunsets diminishes even more so. You may say, "But John, it's only a sunset." And I say, you're right, it's a sunset! I don't care if everyone and their brother can take a calender-worthy-sunset-shot. They're beautiful. And they make me all warm and fuzzy inside.
The tragedy is I don't take my camera with me unless I'm planning on taking some pictures. This may be a fatal genetic flaw, or maybe just me being lazy, but the camera sits all cozy in my closet far too often. So every day I leave work and see a beautiful sunset, I kick myself. Not literally. I'd end up with quite a killer bruise on the old keister. But I feel bad for not at least taking one photo.
What other things am I missing by not having my camera glued to my hand? Just the other day, my son was wearing overalls without a shirt. He put my baseball cap on backwards and walked proudly around the living room. High comedy. Stupid camera was upstairs.
So. This all makes me think I'd like to get an ultra-portable camera to leave in my pocket. I'd put my DSLR in my pocket, but this is a family site. But if I had a decent camera, that's small enough, I could whip it out (THE CAMERA!) any time I happen to want to take a picture. If the data cable for my cell phone wasn't so overpriced, that would be an option. But even then, the quality isn't quite up to what I would consider good enough for these types of shots.
Or maybe I just lug the Nikon around every where I go. I worry about leaving it in my car with the California weather and California car theifs. What to do...
How would you deal with this?
Responses and Conversations
I dunno…at your advanced-age, you’d better not take your Nikon with you everywhere, you’d probably forget it someplace.
Comment by JimmyD on March 10th, 2006 at 11:37 pm
This is precisely why I bought a 2mp phone, you never know when you might want to snap a photo. Of course it is never going to come out as good as a DSLR but the pics are adequate to capture the memory. And even at my advanced age I don’t tend to forget my phone ;O)
Comment by Chris Garrett on March 11th, 2006 at 7:28 am
Jim, I said no comments about my age!
Chris, that’s what I’ve been thinking about. However, Cingular doesn’t offer the best camera phones in my area.
Comment by John Koontz on March 11th, 2006 at 9:26 am
[...] Do you really need 10 megapixels on your phone? I’d like to get a better camera on my phone, but this is ridiculous. Remember, pixels do not equal quality. And what about all that dust in your pockets? Is 10 megapixels going to clean off your lens every time you need to take a shot? Sheesh. It’s a phone, people! [...]
Comment by Digital Photography Blogs - SyncSpeed - Blog Archive » More Pixels For Your Phone on March 15th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
[...] Michael Fox just posted on Alfred Eisenstaedt’s quote “f/8 and be there.” You need both to make it work. You need to be there, but you also need to have a camera (hence the f/8). I’ve written previously about missing shots because I didn’t have my camera with me. However, Michael’s post stresses the need to be proactive about what you’re going to shot. I guess I need to not only carry my camera around, but also be intentional about what I’m looking for to shoot. The 30 Day Photo Challenge forced me to think this way as well as keep my camera around all day. I can’t wait for our next challenge as I’ve been a little lazy in both regards lately. [...]
Comment by Digital Photography Blogs - SyncSpeed - Blog Archive » I’ll Be There With f/8, Will You? on April 20th, 2006 at 9:30 am
Good reminder of how little time we have left..
And the Canon A520 is a good “whip-out” little point-and-shoot. A good point-and-shoot though, it works well and gives you great photos.
Comment by Mike on June 9th, 2006 at 3:35 am