“The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking”
Brooks Atkinson
I think I started very young taking pictures. I have a suitcase of pictures that I have carried around the last 20 years. I tried scrap booking but I hated cutting up the pictures and it was even harder for me to throw out pictures. So when I got my first digital camera I was hooked. For some reason it’s easier for me to delete them off my camera or off my hard drive. And digital scrap booking is a lot more fun.
On my fantasy Christmas wish list this year is a Nikon D3. In real life, I will probably just upgrade to a much better digital camera that is under $200. Yes, I still love my old one, it’s served me well. But the new cameras have so many new features that my old camera just didn’t offer three years ago. I now take my camera everywhere I go.I always need some pictures for my blog, or to remember a great meal, and now I’m thinking about photos for my card company. And as Brooke Atkinson says having a camera gives you an impulse to keep looking.Now when I go on vacation I’m looking for the details that some people might miss. The beach cottage that looked like a fancy carved driftwood birdhouse, the old rusted gas pump, the German Shepard wearing ski goggles on the hiking path, the lone sand dollar on a deserted beach. It’s all there, the camera just makes you look closer. I’ve recently been using my camera in another way, next time you go on vacation or are just sightseeing around your area take lots of misc. digital pictures and use them when you need inspiration for writing prompts, scenes or details. In writing, adding the details could be just what you’re missing.
Lovingly,
The Writing Taking Pictures Nag