Candid

(First published Friday, January 11, 2018 in https://unconventionalcatherine.blogspot.com/2019/01/candid.html)

I am learning more and more.  One of the things I always did when I was younger, from the time I was fifteen, was to take my camera with me nearly everywhere.  Today, we do that with our smartphones.  Everyone always has a camera with them, and the cameras in smartphones have improved immensely over the last several years.  There are a few fun videos on YouTube that show shoot-outs of a professional, expensive camera versus an iPhone camera.  The results vary, depending on the video, but the truth is that even the best iPhone camera is limited in its specs.   I can take some awesome pics on my iPhone that look marvelous when uploaded to Instagram, but if I were to enlarge the photo to an 8 x 10 or larger, the photo might not look so sharp.

iPhone photo

But... I still want to have my camera with me.  When the opportunities arrive, when the image is there that might never come again, I want to be able to take a quality shot.  Yes, I will have my camera at holidays and major events.  The best pictures sometimes happen when I'm not at an event or planning a shot.

A picture while walking.

I go walking a lot.  Some of my best pictures happen when I am walking.  I encounter so many awesome images on these walks:  the river with wildflowers around it, the reflections in the pavement of the trees overhead on a rainy day, the light as it streams through the trees.  With a young daughter still at home and grandchildren, I don't want to miss those moments, those little moments that make up a life.

Got to capture those candid moments.

I am not a professional.  I am a hobbyist.  I have helped in the professional realm a few times and it has been scary and fun at the same time.  I never felt that my photography was very good.  I never invested a lot of money into it because, with five children, the money just wasn't there.  I stuck with my point-and-shoot cameras and simply recorded our lives.  I got some nice pictures over the years.  I loved shooting with film, but realized how wonderful it was to not have to measure every shot and debate whether I could afford to get all the rolls developed if I took all the pictures I wanted.

A picture I took when I got my Nikon eight years ago.

I was given a DSLR eight years ago for my birthday.  I have used it often.  I would use it a lot for awhile, then set it aside and use my smartphone camera.  More and more my smartphone camera was used because it was with me.  In all honesty, Nikon that was a gift is bulky and difficult to have with me all the time.  There's a photography quote that says, "The best camera is the one you have with you."

Some moments are too important to miss.

There is a documentary on Netflix that I have watched over and over.  Finding Vivian Maier is a beautifully done documentary about a street photographer that was undiscovered during her life.  Her work was discovered, but by the time she was tracked down, she had passed away.  She has gained attention because of the substantial amount of work she left behind and the amazing quality of the art.  When the filmmaker interviewed those that knew her, they all said that she always had her camera on her.  She would go walking and take photos all over Chicago, recording the people on the street and a substantial amount of history along the way.  She purposely looked for the shots.  But she also took a ton of shots that were taken of the kids she took care of as a nanny, of the moments in her life, simply because she always had her camera on her.

Having a camera on me means I can capture my loved ones.

I have to be honest, that is hard to do with the bulky Nikon that I have.   The ones that I have looked at or borrowed are just as bulky or too expensive for me to purchase.  And so, I find myself considering options I hadn't considered previously.  Mirrorless?  Do I need less features?  How important are megapixels?  Can I get by with less?  Do I need to use a less "professional" camera to have the ability to keep a camera with me at all times?

Self-expression and art are important to me.

 These are the things I am thinking about as I research and pray about the next step in my photography.  For me, it is going to be more about capturing the journey and creating art more than being a professional.  I am going to work in a library.  That is the career path I chose.  I am excited to do so.  Photography fulfills me in a different way than research and books.  It is a different way to express myself.  I am learning all I can because I want to create awesome images. I want to capture the candid moments that I might miss if I don't have my camera on me because carrying it was inconvenient.