The pictures you never took

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warren montgomery - 12 Oct 2003 23:45 GMT

I'm an avid hobbiest, but not so avid as to carry a camera everywhere or to
drop everything and go get one when I see a perfect picture. I regret some
of those occasions though. For 25 years, I commuted across the Illinois
landscape to a job in the suburbs of Chicago, and most days drove past a
fantastic Oak tree with an upper branch poised like the fingers of an hand
read to snatch the somewhat faded farm house it stood in front of. I saw
the photographic possibilities from the start. I must have taken that
picture 100 times in my mind -- against a brilliantly colored sunrise in
winter. Against looming thunder clouds and green fields in summer. With a
hawk perched on the branch and flowers below it in the spring. Against a
mist shrouded landscape in the fall. Alas, I never took it with a camera,
and regretted it several years back when the tree died. The golf course I
play regularly has a wonderful row of maples that every year for 2 or 3 days
in October explode in shades of red, orange and green as the frost touches
the outermost leaves first while the rest of the tree remains green. Every
year I notice the wonderful sight, but never have my camera to capture these
trees against the brilliant blue skies. The perfect day was yesterday, and
this year, being semi-retired, I vowed I go out Monday and take the shot.
Alas, a cold front robbed the trees of their most colorful leaves last
night. Maybe next year. So, folks, my advice is to get those perfect shots
while you can and not wait for next year or tomorrow to get the camera.

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Warren Montgomery wamontgomery@att.net (
http://home.att.net/~wamontgomery )

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ChrisPlatt - 13 Oct 2003 00:24 GMT

Good advice, well put.

One way you might deal with this dilemma is to
try to find a pocketable camera you can live with, and
keep it in the inside chest pocket of your coat at all times.

I have been through quite a number of different models
trying to find one that offers the right combination of
features (e.g. size, weight, durability, manual control, etc.)

I haven't found my ideal camera for this purpose yet,
but in the meantime I've been getting plenty of shots
I would have otherwise missed.

Carpe diem, baby!
-Chris-

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Francis A. Miniter - 13 Oct 2003 03:43 GMT

>Good advice, well put.
>
>One way you might deal with this dilemma is to
>try to find a pocketable camera you can live with,

old rangefinders are really good for this purpose

>and
>keep it in the inside chest pocket of your coat at all times.

or glove compartment or trunk of your car - or even briefcase or
pocketbook (purse to those not living in New England).

>I have been through quite a number of different models
>trying to find one that offers the right combination of
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>Carpe diem, baby!
>-Chris-

I try to keep a camera bag in my trunk to have a camera wherever I go.
Usually, it is a 35 mm SLR with a couple of lenses. This does not have
to be your No. 1 camera. I acquired an old Minolta with wide-angle and
telephoto screw-ons a few years ago for $25. It has done this duty
quite well.

Francis A. Miniter

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warren montgomery - 13 Oct 2003 18:42 GMT

> >One way you might deal with this dilemma is to
> >try to find a pocketable camera you can live with,
> >
> old rangefinders are really good for this purpose

Funny, I was thinking the opposite direction -- compact digitals. One
trouble with this is you need film, and it's usually got to be something
pretty forgiving because you don't know what you are loading it for. The
"just in case" camera also usually sits around a while before you shoot a
role. (I've used a couple of small 35mms for this purpose but not for the
two situations I described.)

> I try to keep a camera bag in my trunk to have a camera wherever I go.
> Usually, it is a 35 mm SLR with a couple of lenses. This does not have
> to be your No. 1 camera. I acquired an old Minolta with wide-angle and
> telephoto screw-ons a few years ago for $25. It has done this duty
> quite well.

An interesting idea. One reason I had a hard time taking the tree shot was
that my employer didn't let people take cameras on premesis, which meant
leaving it in the car, something I wasn't keen on with my primary gear. If
you are like me chances are you have an old body or two and some cheap
lenses that fit them already that aren't in your primary camera kit. A
worse problem though is simply that even in a Northern climate like
Illinois, anything you leave in the car on a sunny day gets cooked. Again I
would think keeping the film fresh would be a limitation.

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Warren Montgomery wamontgomery@att.net (
http://home.att.net/~wamontgomery )

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Nils Rostedt - 13 Oct 2003 19:01 GMT

> > >One way you might deal with this dilemma is to
> > >try to find a pocketable camera you can live with,
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> "just in case" camera also usually sits around a while before you shoot a
> role.

On the other hand,
* a digital camera may run out of battery charge just at the moment you need
it.
* an inexpensive 2 Mpix digicam might not deliver the dream shot you wanted,
due to low resolution and digital noise.

A compact film camera loaded with quality film still surpasses a digicam for
"just in case" shots IMHO. Changing to a fresh film regularly should not be
a big issue.

I have this dilemma too, having recently upgraded to a dslr. Very good
pictures, but boy it's heavy to tote around. Should I shell out further $$$$
for a pocket digicam or buy an inexpensive high quality film pocket cam
(such as the mju-2 or the Ricoh whateveritwas).

My $0.02
Nils

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Jeff - 13 Oct 2003 20:06 GMT

FWIW, I carry an older P/S film camera (Olympus Stylus) as I bike to class
(U of Winnipeg). It's small and very lightweight and the resulting photos
are quite acceptable. It cost me less than C$100 about 10 years ago, so
monetary risk is very low as well.

I prefer to keep it loaded with Ilford HP5. Fast enough to handle low
light. Decent enough that photos don't look like newpaper pictures. Cheap
enough for a student's budget. B/W, so I can process the film myself and
then scan the negatives into my personal confuser (PC).

Prior to the Stylus, I had a Rollei 35. Rather quirky but nice photos. It
died an untimely death due when a planet jumped into its path.

There's not a lot of nature to photograph on my ride into/out of downtown
Winnipeg, but there are interesting sights along the way.

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Fred II - 17 Oct 2003 08:33 GMT

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Jeff - 18 Oct 2003 15:08 GMT

Actually, if you're a Canada goose lover, this has been a great year. There
are still thousands of the silly things in transit to southern climes.
Through the spring and summer, the local golf courses were flooded with
geese and goslings. The ones on the golf courses seemed to get quite used
to people. Great for photographs but probably not for the long-term
survival of those particular geese.

The leaves are mostly gone by now. Apparently they are all on my lawn.

Let me put in an OT plug for Winnipeg. If you like photographing ducks,
geese, etc, Winnipeg is marvelous in September. We're 30 minutes from Oak
Hammock Marsh, a major sanctuary on the migratory path. Within city limits
is Fort Whyte Centre, a massive sanctuary for all kinds of birds (lots of
birds year round). Plenty of other activities to keep you busy.

I used to live in the outskirts of Winnipeg ... Charleswood to be precise
... if I lived there today I'd take my camera out to the Assiniboine Forest
ie adjacent to the Tuxedo Golf Course (where Grant Ave meets Chalfont Rd I
believe) and get some fall nature photo's of the Poplar, Oak and Maple trees
and the birds that call that area home ... or ...
I'd take the road/highway that follows the very scenic West side of the Red
River out to Lockport and return along the East side ...

Jeff wrote:

FWIW, I carry an older P/S film camera (Olympus Stylus) as I bike to class
(U of Winnipeg). It's small and very lightweight and the resulting photos
are quite acceptable. It cost me less than C$100 about 10 years ago, so
monetary risk is very low as well.

I prefer to keep it loaded with Ilford HP5. Fast enough to handle low
light. Decent enough that photos don't look like newpaper pictures. Cheap
enough for a student's budget. B/W, so I can process the film myself and
then scan the negatives into my personal confuser (PC).

Prior to the Stylus, I had a Rollei 35. Rather quirky but nice photos. It
died an untimely death due when a planet jumped into its path.

There's not a lot of nature to photograph on my ride into/out of downtown
Winnipeg, but there are interesting sights along the way.

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warren montgomery - 18 Oct 2003 20:34 GMT

> Actually, if you're a Canada goose lover, this has been a great year. There
> are still thousands of the silly things in transit to southern climes.
> Through the spring and summer, the local golf courses were flooded with
> geese and goslings. The ones on the golf courses seemed to get quite used
> to people. Great for photographs but probably not for the long-term
> survival of those particular geese.

Yes, I always wonder though about the brain power in those little heads,
especially this time of year when invariably I see wing after wing of them
headed North on any nice warm autumn day.

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Warren Montgomery wamontgomery@att.net (
http://home.att.net/~wamontgomery )

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Michael Scarpitti - 13 Oct 2003 14:35 GMT

> Good advice, well put.
>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> Carpe diem, baby!
> -Chris-

How about the Leica Minilux?

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Nospam - 13 Oct 2003 23:55 GMT

I've been using a Yashica T4 Super for this purpose. Even though it's a
fixed-focal lens camera, the lens is spectacular and takes pictures that
easily rival my Nikon lenses.

> > Good advice, well put.
> >
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> How about the Leica Minilux?

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