#JusJoJan24. | Adventuring into Retirement

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.

Today’s prompt for JusJoJan is captivating.

The word captivating means ‘capable of attracting and holding interest’. Other similar words that come to mind are enchanting, fascinating and engaging. How wonderful it is when we find something or someone captivating. I love this word as it conjures up images of curiosity, fun and delight.

What do I find captivating? The first thing that comes to mind – birds. They are such fascinating little creatures. I can sit at the window facing my garden and watch them for hours. If the sprinkler is on it is fun to watch the different groups coming and going, The sugarbirds, weavers, sparrows and witogies are the most common but others often join it too. Sometimes there will be a mix of species but usually, they take turns. When one decides to leave the scene the others follow and then they return in waves.

I love to watch them at the birdbath too. The same seems to happen here with the different species taking turns. There is of course always the bully who chases his subordinates away. Hereunder is a selection of visitors on sprinkler day. Click on each to enlarge.