camera | Adventuring into Retirement

Here are my SYW answers to this week’s questions from Di

Do you like having your photograph taken?
I used to dislike being photographed, convinced that I wasn’t photogenic. But stepping behind the lens changed everything. I’ve learned how to coax hesitant subjects into engaging with the camera. When you shrink from the moment, the photo reflects that hesitation. But the instant you lean in, and let a little joy shine through, the results can be flattering. These days, I follow my own advice—and I’m pleasantly surprised by what I see.

**Speak** to the camera! (*Grandsons and friends – Koppie Alleen, De Hoop Nature Reserve 2010)*

Did you have a school photograph taken every year?
We had class photos taken every year at the schools I attended but very few are in my photo collection. Either my parents didn’t order them each year, or they have been lost over the years. I have all the school photographs taken of my own kids.

A nursery school photo of my grandson aged 4.

Do you take photographs using a phone or stand alone camera?
My bridge camera—specifically the Canon PowerShot SX70 HS— lives in my handbag, and I use it often. Bridge cameras are a happy medium between point-and-shoots and DSLRs, offering generous zoom and manual controls without the fuss of interchangeable lenses. I occasionally reach for my phone camera too, especially when spontaneity calls.

Latest photo taken with my Canon – My gardener after enlarging and planting a flower bed.

Are you any good at taking photographs?
I wouldn’t call myself a photography expert but I am an obsessive documenter. I record life as I live it both in words and images. The point of taking photographs is to capture the beauty I observe in nature and to record experiences with friends and family.
My photographs are filed in date order, with subject titles. All my favorites are in PowerPoint Presentations. My children and grandchildren know who to come to when they’re looking for a photograph from any past occasion!
Looking back at old photographs gives me great pleasure.

One of my favourite photos of Grandpa with all four grandchildren – December 2014 Struisbaai

Gratitude:
Today’s meme resonates with me.

I’m fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful friends and family whose presence brings joy and meaning to my life. I’m deeply grateful for each of them.

Today Stream of Consciousness Saturday is combined with Just Jot It January and the prompt is Close-up or Close Up.

I enjoy taking photographs but I am really of the aim and shoot variety. Reasonable memory shots are usually the result of my efforts and I have an archive full of photographs from many years of recording just about anything since digital photography became a thing.

I received my first digital camera on my fiftieth birthday – twenty-one years ago. I guess it’s time my photography skills came of age! That little camera had a three times optical zoom and cost R7 000 if I remember correctly. At the time I owned a video camera which was my pride and joy but it was not digital. My camera did not have a video function so I still had to use both of them.

My next digital camera came a few years later and I paid R 6 000 for a 12x optical zoom camera – Wow – was I thrilled with that. I could not believe that a camera so superior to my previous one cost R1000 less. And it had a video function so the video camera went into a junk cupboard and stayed there for many years before giving it away for nothing!

But now to the point of the prompt – close-up. Well with my new digital camera, I discovered that close-ups were quite easy and great fun too. As technology improved I moved along with it by purchasing the newest in digital zoom cameras until at last I got one with a 65x optical zoom. My brand of choice was and still is Canon, and their PowerShot range is superb. Each time I bought a new camera the price was less than the time before until the latest one. Cameras now cost twice as much as what I paid before the one I have now – a Canon PowerShot SX70HS. I have to take great care of this one because it will cost too much to replace. My previous cameras have all been given to members of my family who coveted them!

Camera technology today is amazing. Who would have imagined twenty years ago that a phone would double as a camera? In fact, the cell phone is even more than that, and what a difference that has made to modern life!

Let me now close up this post with a few favourite close-up photographs. The Earl is in fact the best close-up photographer so I have also chosen from his folder too. He uses a Panasonic Lumex 60X with 60x optical zoom.