Perspectives

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Buying a new car that is a bit uncommon can make lots of that model suddenly appear on the road.  Well, not really – it is just that they catch your eye because you have one and are more familiar with the look and style of your new wheels.  Your frame of reference shapes your view of the world and helps capture your attention.

The same is true with scanography.  Whenever I see an interesting new flower I’m immediately thinking of how to capture it on the scanner glass – solo, or in a collage? What would go well with it?  (Doesn’t matter that the flower in question is probably in someone’s front garden and isn’t going to come anywhere near my scanner.)

I recently splurged and bought a DSLR camera, opting for the Canon EOS Rebel T6, looking to dip my toes back into the “real” photography world again.  The trigger event was an upcoming trip to Iceland (which was an absolute delight – chock full of mountains and waterfalls and geothermal areas and glaciers) and I knew I would want something better than our 10-year old point-and-shoot to document the visit. Cameras have come a long way since my last SLR (film – blush) so there was a lot to learn, but I was able to capture some decent pics. This is one of my favorites, taken from within a glacier cave:

Blue Grotto

Blue Grotto

What I did’t quite expect from buying this camera is the change in perspective it would bring.  Now even just driving to or from work (a rather “un-scenic” route) I still find myself looking at trees or clouds and wondering how or if I could get a halfway decent shot out of it.

And then I step back in my thoughts and chastise myself: how can any picture of our puny little hills and tiny, casual brooks even remotely compare to the volcanic cones, rushing rivers and dramatic waterfalls stashed all around Iceland?  Who would want to look at such boring local pics?

Don’t get me wrong, I love New England, with it’s nearby ocean, autumn leaves, lakes and ponds to kayak in and pretty darn good skiing.  I guess I’ll need to learn a photographer’s eye, find the unusual angle or unique lighting even in our a bit more mundane world.

Or I could head back to Iceland at the first opportunity…

 

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