A Short Musing on Photography

I used to be a much better photographer than I am now, back in the film days when I had taken a class or two and took lots of photos and really thought about many of the shots I took. Photography is one of those interests that got shelved when the family thing intervened followed by my discovery of fiber arts. I wish I'd gotten back to it a year ago when the idea of this trip first surfaced. I also wish I’d gotten more comfortable with the digital SLR I'm using, a Canon xTi I bought used off Craigslist, in the fall. We gave younger son the same camera for his high school graduation two years ago, and he’s been very patient answering my questions on this trip and detecting just when the tone of panic in my voice really means business. The very nice thing about digital photography, though, is the ability to shoot a bunch of photos of the same scene, changing various settings and trying to get it right. The screen on the back of the camera isn’t great, but you can at least tell if something really didn’t work. Many days I’ve shot several hundred photos. Today, on a tour of three tombs, the Imperial City, and a pagoda, I shot 197 photos on the Canon. It would have been more but we were at one of the tombs for the second time and the light wasn’t as good on this visit as it had been on the first. Going through the photos after I downloaded them to my netbook, there was one photo that made me stop in my tracks. I really think that it’s the best photo I’ve shot on this trip. Younger son thought it was pretty darn good himself, which I consider high praise. You can take it or leave it, but I just felt like sharing it. I've taken some other photos on this trip that aren't bad, but this one basically blew me away. All that said, here it is.