I Love My Camera, But The Critters HATE It!

I wish my camera was embedded into my hand, so I would never miss a moment of activity here on the farm!! Sure, that's how I feel, but that's not how all the critters feel, especially the dogs and cats!!!

I have been taking photos since I was eight years old. Back then we had two maybe three camera choices as amateur photographers. My first was a Kodak Brownie. I went everywhere with that little camera, and people either loved it or hated it! I realized at that young age, it was much easier and fun to click away at animals and inanimate objects, then to listen to the moans and groans of people not wanting their pictures taken.

So I started clicking away, mostly at our fat dachshund Max. Max was always a willing candidate, no moaning or complaining from him. Nearly every photo was of him doing what he did best, sleep!! I thought it was very clever, as I snapped away at different angles and distances! Of course, most came out blurry which was a complete waste of my parents money. But, I wanted to be a photographer, so I thought it was good practice and so what if they weren't perfect, at least I captured the moment and could forever look back on it and smile! My interest and obsession with photography continued.

Eventually as an adult, I moved on to a 35mm camera. I enjoyed taking photography classes and read every photo magazine I could get my hands on. The shutter speed thing and exposure somehow always confused me though!! I even got in to black and white photography and development. I thought, no I knew, I would become a professional someday, so I needed to experiment with every element of photography!

My best girlfriend, Kim and I would take our cameras everywhere we went and spent many weekends meandering through the countryside, hopping out of the car here and there, snapping away at cows, horses, flowers, old abandon buildings, anything, everything we thought had potential for a photo worthy of framing and hanging.

We spent so much money developing them...remember those days!? You took all your "professional" quality photos, dropped them off at the developer and knew in about a week you would pick them up and find a portfolio of shots only the best photographers could take! NOT!!!

More often what you got was a mix and match of blurry, under/over developed, choppy shots you would slip back into the envelope and quietly place in a drawer along with a multitude of other envelopes!!

Thank goodness for digital photography!!!! Digital photography changed my life!!! No more guessing at shutter or exposure settings. No more paying for pictures less than worthy of development. And now, I am never without my little Olympus 7.1 megabyte camera!! I literally snap hundreds of photos each and everyday. And, the critters know it and hate it!!! It’s as if I am stalking them or following them with a rifle…Boy, if they could talk; no I probably would not be happy with all the curse words I would hear!

Never a day goes by without seeing a shot that I must capture! Never a day goes by without diving for my camera and snapping that perfect shot!! At the end of each day, I am thankful I took the effort to snap away; the memories I now have in thousands upon thousands of pictures has been well worth every effort!!

I see beauty and intrigue in everything around me, everything in front of me, everything above and below me!

From blossoms on our apple trees to laying on my belly for the special, unique moment with a critter, I enjoy it all! They feel different about my obsession though and you can see it in many of the photographs I end up downloading.

I am so thankful, I no longer have to drop them off and wait a week to find out the naughty little dogs were not so keen on me snapping yet ANOTHER photo of them! With digital, in an instant I can see exactly how they feel by plugging in to my computer and downloading.

The dogs are the most disgusted with my constant flashing! They don’t like the glare, and the blinking red light that warns them of the impending bright flash.  In their eyes, at that moment, I am... the “PUParazzi," they dislike me and communicate their distaste very well!!

Sure I wish I had a camera embedded into my hand, so I would not miss a single picture perfect opportunity of our critters.  Without the use of words, in a moment you will understand exactly how they feel about the free wheeling use of my digital camera!

My wish for the future: An electronic button, surgically implanted into my temple; my eyes would be the lens. I would press the little button and capture all the picture perfect shots instantly, without having to grab a camera!! The biggest problem I see with that - the download afterwards!!