Tuesday 17 November 2015

Catching up, part one

Shoot the light #2

The week before my adventure out to the we(s)t coast was as hectic as I expected, as were the ten days of fun and (some) sun that began and ended in Vancouver, and apart from one large, but surmountable, glitch the day I arrived, was perfect.

After six-plus years of stellar service, my beloved Canon SX10IS digital camera packed it in while out photographing the pier at White Rock. I don't know what happened -- everything I found on the interwebs about what the error message meant hadn't happened to me -- and nothing I tried to cure the problem did so.

So my first evening was spent declaring it an ex-camera and then searching for a suitable replacement.

Reflections

At least in that regard, I got lucky: my "must have" list for a camera was pretty short, and on the advice of a professional photographer friend, every six months or so, I'd have a look at what was new, so instead of taking me days to figure out what I want, it took about 30 minutes.

Then the trick was finding a good camera store in Vancouver that had one in stock, and I got lucky a second time: not only was I able to find my first choice (the Canon SX60HS) available nearby, but it was even on sale.

A wake

So my first stop the next morning, on the way to the Alcuin Society's Wayzgoose, was to buy the camera, and I spent that evening reading the brief (and awkwardly written, IMO) manual included in the box. I quickly realized that I would be better served by downloading the 200-page electronic behemoth instead, and found myself sucked into some of the new tricks it did.

Shifting colours

The ferry ride to Victoria gave me the opportunity to get in some quick practice shots, and even though, as I write this, I've had two weeks to play and read the manual, I'm still feeling my way with it. What you'll see in this, and the next two posts, will be the experiments I deemed successful.

DOF practice

Victoria proved to be the best weather conditions I had on the entire trip, with the better part of two sunny and warm days, and I spent some quality time with my ex-pat Calgary friends, seeing the sights, and consuming some terrific food and beverages, especially as I had both Monday dinner and Tuesday lunch at Spinnaker's, one of my favourite places.

to be continued

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