cameras – Telling Stories

Last week was a bust as far as taking daily photos. The weather wasn’t very cooperative. Today, it was pleasantly in the 70s when I went out; the sun was shining. There was a light breeze, and the sky was blue with some puffy white clouds. My macro/close-up filters came yesterday, and I wanted to try them out. The camera battery was fully charged. I put on my socks and shoes, grabbed my gear, went back into the house for my hat to keep my hair out of my face, and set out for a trip around the pond.

I stopped to take this picture. I have my Tamron 75-200 lens on my Canon 7D and attached the close-up 4X filter. I snapped the picture.

I repositioned for a different angle, pressed the shutter button, and pressed the button again, and nothing happened. The camera would not focus. I stood there for a bit, metaphorically scratched my head, turned the camera off and on a couple of times, reattached the lens, and even removed the close-up filter. Still nothing. There was nothing else to do but go inside and see if another lens would work.

My newer Canon T8i camera was “dead,” or rather the battery was dead, so I couldn’t test the lens on it. I plan to when the battery is charged. I put the kit lens (I forget the focal length other than it zooms to 55) on the 7D, and lo and behold! it worked! So, back out I went with the appropriate close-up filter and a determination to make some images.

I traipsed through the woods today. I tried the foundational exercises of listening for the farthest out sounds and expanding peripheral vision. The latter is difficult for me. I’m never sure if I’m supposed to move my eyeballs or not!

What caught my eye today, though, were textures and colors. The floor of the woods is covered with brown leaves, but there are pops of green all over–plants and moss in particular. There are fallen tree trunks and branches to step over and walk around. I had to be careful of the stump holes. And there were the pointed stumps of small trees the beavers cut down.