Afternoon thoughts, camera in hand

Untitled, The Hague, December 2008

After my last post I went out for a walk with the camera. Walking around photographing things always gets me thinking, here is the random collection of thoughts from today.

On using a new camera, you come across new features that you never knew were needed until they are given to you. On the 40D, the must have new feature has become the AF-ON button. It's like manual focus for an AF camera. Has me working in much the same way I do with my other cameras - separating focusing from the act of taking the picture.

Good high sensitivity and auto-ISO, great for overcast days.

Just because it was cold yesterday, doesn't mean it will be today. From below freezing, to several degrees in 24h.

I'm not good at going out just to take pictures. I usually need to have some idea of the subject at hand. Personally there are 2 reasons. If I don't have a specific goal, I feel I can't take every opportunity as I'd never have the camera away from my eye. For today the walk was as much the goal as the photographs and I had to make sure I got enough exercise as pictures. The second reason follows from this: I reject a lot of potential pictures because I'm not sure they're quite right. With a specific idea of the shots I want, I focus my attention on those aspects of what I see, so I pre-filter the potentials. It means the end results are generally better.

I'm sure a creature from another planet would elicit less odd looks (as in, expressions that say "you're odd") from other people that a man with a camera in his hand. I thought they were all weird for having apparantly so much stuff to do on a Sunday. We seem to have lost the day of rest, might as well be toiling down at mill.