Okay, that's an exaggeration. It didn't ruin my weekend, but it
pissed me off some. And, really, it was my fault, not the camera's
Actually, it was a pretty good weekend. My middle daughter celebrated
her 17th, and she had a good party. Of course, pix taken, in this
case with the LX/K1.2 50mm/TriX.
The next day, my youngest had to go up the road to Gananoque, about 20
miles from Kingston, to be in the local Santa Claus Parade. Seems the
playhouse that put on the play that she was in over the summer had a
float in the parade, so she went to help decorate it. She found out
that she was then going to be on the float, which thrilled her to no
end. She got to put on one of the period costumes from Anne of Green
Gables, and sing caroles whilst being pulled through town.
So, my ex and I go to see the parade. It was quite wonderful. Being
used to "big city parades" with expensive floats and world-class
marching bands, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. Quite the
contrary! It was wonderful. The streets were packed, and every float
was full of local folks, who seemed to know everyone along the parade
route. There was an incredible sense of community and joy that seems
lost in the huge multi-million dollar parades in big cities that I've
seen before.
So, I have about 1/2 roll in my LX, with a roll in my pocket. I can
see Claire's float coming, and by then I have about 5 shots left, so I
quick fire them off, so I can load a fresh roll, so I don't get stuck
at the end of a roll whilst shooting her and her float. I put the
lens cap on, change film, change the shutter dial from Automatic to
1/2000th so that the shutter doesn't stay open interminably while I
fire off the first three "pre-shots" (you can see where I'm going),
and suddenly my ex yells, "here she is".
I run off to snap about 20 or 25 shots of her and her float, quite
thrilled to have gotten that many of her.
On the way to the car, I notice that I'd left the shutter speed dial
at 1/2000th. I was shooting at about f5.6, and on the overcast day,
the meter was reading between 1/125th and 1/250th. I was between 3
and 4 stops underexposed. Poop!
Oh well, that's what I get for not paying attention, I guess. Plus,
that's what I get for regularly switching between 3 or 4 bodies. I
think I got about 1/2 roll of pretty good parade shots, but missed all
of them of my daughter. Luckily, someone else got lots of shots which
they'll share with me, but it's not the same. :-(
Still, a wonderful weekend was had, and most importantly, both my
daughters that still live at home had terrific times!
-frank, back at work on Monday morning...
--
"Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
