Leah has gone away for a few days. She’s visiting her parents in the Midwest. I gave her my snapshot camera to take along on the trip.
Why did I do that?
After 30-plus years of owning WAY too much camera gear, I seem suddenly to feel naked without that little Canon point-and-shoot in my pocket. Last night I had a dream that Leah dropped the camera and brought it back home in a million pieces.
Today, all I have in my pocket is a cell phone, no camera. I’m waiting for Leah to call. When she does, I’ll ask about her flight, how her parents are doing, about the weather in our old home town. All the while I’ll be wisely and prudently fighting the urge to ask the most pressing question:
Is my little camera okay?
Not long ago, I went to a birthday party for one of my best friends, a photographer. Many of the party guests were photographers and I confided to one that I felt a little silly, carrying around such a simple, amateur camera. “Heck, don’t feel silly, it’s a camera you can always have with you,” he observed. “This room is full of photographers but only a few have cameras.”
My snapshot camera (it’s a Canon SD800 IS) has become a kind of addiction, a guilty pleasure. Yes, I still have my "real" cameras, my professional gear, and I try to keep that stuff nearby. But the little camera is so simple, so quick and easy...
Just before Leah left, I was walking through our kitchen and noticed beautiful light, a couple of cool little image possibilities. The snapshot camera was what I pulled out.
Yes, it is a “camera you can always have with you.”
Until you don't have it with you.
Leah, PLEASE don’t drop it.
