Photography is my way of complicating life. It used to be so simple. For example, if I wanted to go hillwalking, the process went something like this:
- Decide to go hillwalking
- Decide on a hill
- Pack rucksack
- Drive to hill
- Walk up it
- Walk down it
- Drive home
I dream of those long gone days. Hillwalking now goes something like this:
- Decide to go hillwalking
- Decide on a hill
- Check weather forcast for photogenic suitability
- Check sunrise and sunset times
- Check sunrise and sunset angles
- Decide chosen hill won't be photogenic with those angles
- Scour maps for better hill
- Realise that there's no way I can get there in time for sunrise
- Decide to leave hill decision brewing and pack rucksack
- Pack photo gear
- Lift rucksack and topple over
- Jettison first aid kit and survival bag
- Jettison food
- Bite bullet and decide on only two must have lenses
- Worry that the as yet unknown hill will provide images that can only be captured by the lenses I'm not taking
- Choose lenses again
- Charge batteries
- Unpack lenses and clean them
- Repack the lenses
- Decide on hill
- Reconsider lens decision
- Reconsider hill decision
- Wonder if I'd be best just going for a drive and taking photos from the car rather than walk up anything
- Go to bed in preparation for ultra early start
- Stay awake all night in case I sleep through my alarm
- Get up and wonder why I'm doing this
- Wonder how the weather forecast managed to change so drastically in the last 4 hours
- Decide to go anyway - just in case
- Drive to hill
- Stagger up it in dark
- Realise that it's getting very light and I'm no where near where I wanted to be
- Scramble round looking for a good scene
- Find the perfect scene, but not for the lenses I brought
- Curse silently because battery is still in charger which is still attached to my house
- @#!&~@@%
It's not just hillwalking either that's affected. You should see me try and pack for a holiday. I sometimes try and just go walking like in the old days, but I can never manage to leave my camera behind. Or my filters, which means I need a tripod, and as my pack is going to be heavy anyway, I might as well take another lens. But which one...
It's been worth every minute though. Without photography, I'd never have pushed myself to go walking in the cold and dark, and I'd have missed some of the most wonderous and beautiful moments that the world produces. For that, I can live with the complication my camera brings
Cheers
David
ps. Oh, and as for the lenses, it's stupid agonizing because I always have the wrong lens attached to the camera anyway. One day I'll get it right...
