Taking Pictures

Leaf in blue ice ©Vivien Zepf
Nikon D90; image taken in early morning

My father tortured us as children, insisting that we do it "one more time", as in walk down the stairs again or point at that tree again.  Okay, it really wasn't torture; we did it so he could get the picture he wanted. But it sometimes spoiled the fun and might be why I don't take that many pictures of my own children.   Instead, I record where I am, whether in front of grand vistas, on a city street, or in my backyard.

Taking pictures has made me look more carefully at the world around me.  Sometimes I see things as I'd frame them in a picture.

For the last 15 years I've always carried some kind of camera with me.  I used my small digital camera until the lens -- literally -- fell off.  I make room in my carry-on for my big camera whenever we travel.  There's no way I'm leaving that baby at home.  And now that cell phone cameras are pretty darn good, I use it a lot too.  I can be an annoying person on her cell phone, but I'm stopping to snap pictures, not texting, tweeting, or chatting.

Subway lines ©Vivien Zepf

Because I also use my phone for work calls, it's not practical to get all sorts of supplemental lenses because I might be tempted stop what I was doing to put a lens on.  Nope, no can do.  I do miss the flexibility that a lens gives to picture taking, like depth of field.  And that's why I said yes to Tim's request to write a blog post about my photography.  Tim works for Light, a start-up with a new compact digital camera that merges different lenses to achieve high quality DSLR images.  It looks amazing.  Maybe I'll be able to get one some day.  (hint, hint Tim)