Yesterday afternoon my camera died …. I’m not crying, there are no boxes of kleenex required, but it chose to ‘pass’ just as I arrived at an appointment to take pictures of a house, and yes … I felt pretty foolish.
I have never had a really expensive fancy camera. And I don’t have the patience to learn how to use anything too complex. This one was just a Fuji….. I loved it.
It lived in my handbag; on the car seat beside me; it came away on holiday with me; it’s taken planes, trains and boats; been to Paris for lunch, to the market shopping and of course around every early morning brocante fair.
It has been dropped, rained on, dribbled over (by a horse, not me!), sat on and I’m pretty sure Ghetto pee-ed on it too, but that didn’t stop it turning out tens of thousands of pictures, and being a totally reliable companion for the past three years or so.
My camera is absolutely one of the things that I cannot leave home without.
And that is why this is short … I am off to buy the replacement … the salesman will need to be patient as I try to explain the sort of pictures I want to take, the way I want a camera to feel, the fact that it is part of my everyday life …. He’ll want to talk about ISO and shutter speed, and I’ll be wondering about pictorial atmosphere, and the weight of the camera in my hand … this is not going to be easy! I’ll tell you how it goes. [blank]
Wish me luck![blank]
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Sharon my first thoughts are it's truly the talent and not the camera…[just a Fuji] if you churn out pictures this spectacular. Maybe I should go and buy one and put the expensive one away…lol. Anyway…good luck:)
Oh, Sharon, surely I've told you the tale of how I got MY all too expensive camera?……..so fancy that I avoided using it for two years (I did, finally, give in, and I now use it regularly)??????…
Herve's childhood nanny in Tours was "Madame Paris" (I know….over-written if this were an Amercian script set in France, but that really IS her name). She's now 88 years old (widowed in 1945), and the family refers to her as "The Bionic Nanny". This is due to her having, over the past 25 years, taken full advantage of the national health system,so that she has new&improved;&replaced; knees, hips, all of her teeth,one shoulder, and both corneas. I think there are some other parts I haven't heard about….no one can keep count. She's healthy as a horse, by the way.
Mme Paris long-ago graduated from being the two boys' nanny (both of Herve's parents were working professors) to being sort of the all-round housekeeper; I've met her many times. She rides her damned BICYCLE from her apartment in town, five miles out to their house on the edge of Tours.
In any case, a lot of her is only ten or five years old, and she's in perfect health……but the mind's going a bit wonky (she wandered into the house last Christmas morning, since that was "her day" to supervise cleaning; then, she asked us all to get out of the front salon so that it could be vacuumed??????).
She also came in two or so years ago, saw a very expensive, brand-new Canon camera on the dining room table….and she thought "Oh, THIEVES might take that!" (she explained all of this later). So, she hid the camera in the back of an upstairs linen closet, where (rather obviously) neither any thieves nor the actual owners would ever find it.
My in-laws (respectively, professors of 17th century literature and physics and therefore QUITE enterprisingly anal about pretty-much everything in the entire world) freaked. By the time someone found the camera (a year later, while reaching for sheets), an insurance claim had already been filed and paid…..and my in-laws were so horrified by the prospect of being audited that they shoved the damn thing in my suitcase a couple of Christmas's ago…..along with its French user's-manual (which is of no more use than the ones writen in English by Taiwanese manufacturers).
So?….that's how I got my new camera. I hope your new camera involves fewer machinations and feints.
Best of luck,
David terry
http://www.davidterryart.com
Happy shopping, Sharon! Do share your replacement choice! I agree with The Blue Farmhouse! It's the talent behind the camera!
w/L
Oh, how I understand! I have felt your pain. My solution is two fold, I keep a s mall lightweight digital Samsung in my purse. I takes decent projects. Then I went hog-wild and picked up a Nikon pro type. It has been two years and I am still learning the fine points of this marvel but I am thrilled. Your photography is great so I do agree it is the talent behind the lense that defines the work.
I am sorry for your camera loss. I am so interested in what you decide for a worthy replacement. I have been deliberating for quiet a while. I hope the salesperson is informative.
I sympathize even while laughing at the idea of Ghetto peeing on it. I have so been there! But oh my, you were about to take pictures of a house . . . Does this mean another of your wonderful posts about beautiful Normandy houses is soon to appear?
I'm with you. My eyes glaze over when listening to the technical stuff. I just want to take pretty pictures, like yours.
Buena suerte, las fotos eran mágicas con la otra cámara
Ahahhahah! you made me laugh! I would behave exactly like you! so please let us know what you ened up with! so curious.. and sure I'll follow you!!
ciaoo big hug
Lisa
I wish you luck. Just to be clear, your Fuji was a point and shoot camera? Your photos are remarkable. Gives me something to work towards, thanks for the inspiration.
Karen
I think you are too kind!
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I believe you David… thousands wouldn't 🙂
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Thank you I'll let you know how I got on
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That's it you see, I simply would NEVER have the patience to tame a camera for 2 years, that's why I have to keep it simple
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I shall keep you posted Madonna
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Don't think I laughed at the time Emm! Yes I am shortly going to show you two amazing properties, both up for sale!
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Most often I ask a son to read the instructions for me – pathetic I know…
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Gracias Maria
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Thanks Lisa
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Yes Karen point and shoot is all I ever do – life is just too short!
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How sad! I dread the day my camera dies. It has taken great photos for me despite the fact I can't stand to read hundreds of pages of how to use it. I wish you good luck.
My first camera was a little Fugi and I loved it, but I love my Nikon even more, it does everything but I mostly use the automatic setting. Hope you find just the right one!
Hi Sharon!!!
I know how you feel!! I hope you get one that will work well for you!!! When you get home
pour yourself a big glass of wine to get rid of the headache you might have after listening
to the sales person talk about cameras!!!
Have a great weekend!!!
Pam
xox
Oh, it's true, Sharon. Apparently, French insurance companies put you through all sorts of beaurocratic hell if you file a claim, are paid, and then later "find" the purportedly stolen property.
More amusingly?…..they don't PAY Mme. Paris in cash these days, because she's afraid that her pension would be affected (it would be, in fact). As things stand, she occasionally wanders into a room and vaguely announces, to no one in particular, that she saw a light blue sweater that would be PERFECT for her daughter-in-law's Christmas present, etcetera, etcetera (including the name and address of the shop in Tours). My in-laws, accordingly, scuttle out to buy the item/s….and leave the package on the dining room table……as a GIFT to Mme. Paris. It's all perfectly legal & above-board—–no one has performed a "service" or given a gift beyond what he/she would do for ANY friend….not that the tax and pension officials (even in red-taped France) spends a lot of time auditing 88 year old nannies or long-retired professors of literature & physics. Personally?….my guess (and their son's) is that these old, supposedly retired (they're all healthy as they could be and are VERY active) folks simply ENJOY the whiff of conspiracy and intrigue the exchange confers upon their otherwise eminently respectable, comme-il-faux daily lives.
Advisedly yours as ever,
David Terry
If GHETTO pee-ed on it it was a TREASURE indeed!
I hope you have great success today!
XOXO
Sharon, I very much like the handbag in this article — could you tell us the brand and where it might be purchased? It appears to be of exquisite quality and extremely versatile — thank you!
I'm so sorry to hear of this Sharon. As you've already found by now, the possibilities are endless to choose from. Hopefully, the camera seller has made this painless for you.
David Terry makes gives me a chuckle pretty much all. the. time!
Sharon, I have loved your blog for a few years now and have never posted… one of my best friends Jeanne, of I Dream Of, turned me on to you, and from Seattle I look forward to your gorgeous adventures every day. Your photos are always so stunning, I can't believe you can do it with a point and shoot. I too have always been a point and shoot gal, but I recently bought the Canon EOS Rebel SL1 this summer on the advise of a few photographer friends who think it is a perfect hybrid for non professionals. There is a point and shoot option, as more fancy set ups I may figure out someday. I have shot pictures of homes I've designed, my kids, and it is great all the way around. AND super compact and light weight for a 'real' camera. (I am not affiliated w/Canon, just happen to really like this new beast.) My husband has the Canon 5D from a few years ago and it's about the size of a pony. Ridiculous. So, if your salesman shows you this option you'll at least have one more opinion on it. I also bought an additional 55-220mm lens, but the 18-55mm that comes with it is great too. I carry it in my purse quite often and it's not too bad. Good luck, I can't wait to see more pictures with whatever new contraption you end up with!
And, someday, Jeanne and I are coming to Normandy to shop and see you….I need to get through my home remodel first and then hopefully I can fill it up with goodies from France…
xo Dana
Good luck camera shopping, it can be overwhelming. My Sony Cyber Shot has been sitting in its pretty green leather case since the day I got my Iphone 4s because I found the IiPhone takes much better pictures! Really, now that I think about it, I have a graveyard of old cameras that have never left my possession! I came across them while reorganizing my office cupboards, the weirdest one is the Sony FD Mavica that used floppy discs and unbelievably there's still one in it! But, I'm really jealous of the Canon Rebel T3 that we gave to our oldest daughter as a Christmas gift, lol I borrowed it to shoot action photos of our youngest daughter while she was ice skating and was quite amazed, just turn the dial to the type of mode you want & click! My sister is taking photography classes to learn more about her SLR camera and she said she's really enjoying it. I love it when David Terry drops in for a visit on your blog….I was laughing so hard I had to hold my stomach, lol 😀
Good luck with that!
Nude is so elegant!