Monday 16 June 2008

Camera Nightmares!


This week David Mcmahon from authorblog: Weekend Wandering asks "What Is Your Worst Camera Nightmare?"

Well this topic seems to have been put out just for me! Most things to do with photography can be a nightmare for me! My new found hobby is being really thwarted because of my lack of technical skills. Its not so much the taking of pictures that causes me trouble, because I am getting better at that, but there is still a problem with links, that is really doing my head in! I was hoping to join a photo story club but I have no idea how to get the draft from blogger into the link so unless some one can come up with help, this will not materialize. My technical support always seems to be out or too busy!

My very first camera was a Brownie 127 by Kodak. It took black and white small photos, which had to be taken to the chemist to be developed. Colour was only for the rich (in America) when I was twelve. This camera was fairly straightforward and I took some good photos with it.
Over the years I took photos of holidays and important events with different colour cameras. Some were instant and produced a snap will you waited, but most had to be developed. Mistakes with these type of cameras were quite costly, so I didn't really do much snapping over the years.

The worst group of photos that I have ever taken, were of holiday shots in Cyprus. I took two reels of film with me and put them in my suitcase. The film boxes were sealed, but after we got home and I went to collect the photos from the chemist, the pictures were barely visible and looked as though they had a foggy mist over every one. So although there was nothing wrong with the way I'd taken the photos, somewhere along the line of processing, a fault had occurred. Some one had warned me that xray machines at the airport, could do that to a film. Wish I had listened.

Well I am not dwelling on the mistakes and I certainly will not show any of the worst of my snaps. I have included one from my travels. I wasn't really being nosey looking into someone's window. I was interested in the ivy up the wall. I can almost see the curtain twitching though! My ambition is to be able to get quite close in to take a tiny butterfly on a flower. So far the butterflies only seem to emerge when I have no camera at hand. As soon as I run to get it, they disappear. 
My long suffering husband now not only has to put up with me trawling the blogs but also has me waiting about in the garden for creatures that might come but on the other hand might not! 


20 comments:

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

Where do you get your energy from Maggie? Not only are you on all the blogsites I visit at all the ungodly hours of the day and night, now you are adding photography to your "to do list"!

Suburbia said...

Maggie that sounds just like me!!! My ambition is to 'get up colse' to nature! The other day there were some bright blue damsel flies over our pond. I rushed in to get the camera but obviously they had gone, and despite my waiting about, for what seemed like hours, they didn't oblige!
Good luck for a good shot soon and at least with digital you don't waste loads of money developing bad photos (not that any of yours will be bad of course!) :)

Jeni said...

Your first camera sounds a lot like the one my uncle gave me when I was about 13-14 years old. He wanted to get me interested in photography and learn more about it which I never followed up on his suggestions. BTW, back then, color film/developing, in America, was pretty much just for the rich here too! Rare purchased that kind of film unless it was for an extremely special occasion!

david mcmahon said...

Great work, Maggie. You mirrored all my experiences!

Cath said...

LOL!
You know I do this too don't you? Waiting for birds, butterflies, flies, bees - thye may come, they may not. They WILL come eventually, but probably after I have become and ice statue, my children have grown up and left and my husband has gone fishing!

I had a disaster too. I might get to blog about it. It was hard before digital photography because you didn't know you had a disaster until it was too late - moment gone - can't do it again.

Great post MAggie and well done on POTD again !

Craver Vii said...

It was so sad to find bad pictures in the days of film, especially when it was the whole roll. Thank God for digital!

Expat mum said...

God, even the thought of doing anything too complicated makes me want to crawl into a corner and wait till it all goes away. I have all the equipment but it always seems to take me twice as long to do anything, and I end up cutting and pasting pictures, just like in the old days!

Working Mum said...

Maggie, don't give up, here's how I did the Photostory Friday thing:

1 Write your post and publish it on Friday morning
2 Go to "What Works for Us" and copy the html stuff in the little box from MamaGeek's post (make sure you scroll down to get the whole lot)
3 Go back and edit your post and paste the html stuff into the top of your post. You have to do it while looking at it on 'html' instead of 'compose'
4 Publish your post again

This now puts MamaGeek's link in your post, now to sign your post in:

5 Copy the address of your post from the address bit at the top of your browser
6 Go back to MamaGeek's and fill in your name in the linky thing and paste your post's address in the other box.

Bob's your uncle, and Fanny's your aunt! as my grandmother would say.

Irene said...

Do you know, Maggie, I don't own a good working camera now, and with the divorce, the digital camera is leaving my home. I guess you know what I will be trying to save up for, though I don't have any patience to wait for butterflies or damsel flies.

family affairs said...

But think how much more you know about uploading photos on to a blog than most! Lx

Gone Back South said...

Whatever disasters you have with cameras I'm sure you're way better at it than me!

the mother of this lot said...

My dad had a Box Brownie when I was little. You had to lean over it and look at the image which was upside down!

He took some good pictures with it though - and I remember having to wait for them from the chemist. It felt like forever!

Omykiss said...

I never used a camera till quite recently when i got myself a secondhand digital one. It costs nothing to snap away ... and all the disasters can be disposed of easily .. before anyone even sees them! Against all my expectaitons... i'm enjoying myself!

Rose said...

Yup, been there, done that. Thanks for reminding my of all my painful camera moments!! LOL!

Maggie May said...

retired & crazy ..... energy? What is that! I drag myself around!

Suburbia ...... I got a gerat shot of a red damsel fly on my mini pond! Pity it looked like a twig on the masterpiece. Another one down the shoot. But it didn't cost!

Jeni ...... the black & white photos looked good, I thought.

David... glad even the experts started off with problems! Thanks for great comment.

Cath ......... thanks for the lovely comments.... glad I'm not the only one doing dotty things!

Craver vii......... Yes, its so easy with digital.

Expatmum ..... are you a technophobe too? i wouldn't have believed that!

Working Mum ....... so kind of you to give instructions. We will see what happens!

Anonymous said...

Corrr, I would have been being nosey, I love looking in windows!!

CJ xx

Maggie May said...

Nora ...... you never know what you might end up doing! Look at me!

family affairs ......... more able than a few months ago, I suppose.

gonebacksouth ....... i think not!

Jackie ....... yes, I remember them too! My aunt took some good ones with that!

omykiss ..... you seem to take good ones. Thought you were a well seasoned photographer!

Golightly ........... it is heartening to think I will get over these problems! if I live long enough!

Maggie May said...

Crystal ... well so do I but I couldn't say that on the net could I? Oops!

Indrani said...

Interesting camera experiences. Came via David's. For butterflies wait for rains ;)

Suburbia said...

Hi Maggie, I got one (damsel) too after reading and commenting on your post yesterday! (our pond is only mini too!)You ispired me.

Have you tried cropping (also known as trimming) it? It brings the image in much closer and if you have a good camera and/or a stready hand it can look as if you have zoomed in with a macro lens.