because this morning i had an eerie song from The Birds stuck in my head
I know it's silly to get attached to material objects, but I am attached to "my camera." In quotes, because it has been three different cameras since 2002: a Canon Powershot S200 Digital ELPH, whose blurry pictures and slow processing I defended until January of 2007, when I got the Canon Powershot SD800 IS. In May of 07, I dropped the camera onto some cement during senior week, days before graduation! Clearly I needed a camera, so I convinced my dad to get an identical camera that my brother could then receive as a high school graduation gift the next month, after my camera returned from its repair with Canon.
Because I had a camera, and enjoyed taking photos, over the course of the years, I ended up being the unspoken designated photographer for any special events or outings, or on any run of the mill days when I saw a photo op and happened to have my camera with me. The thing is, a camera is an unusual material object. It captures moments wrapped up with emotions and memories, which sort of transcend the material.
This current camera and I have covered a lot of ground and been through a lot of moments, and so last July when I lost my camera on a beach in Burlington, I was pretty sad. Hoping that some kind soul in Vermont had picked up my camera on the beach, I wrote a "personals" ad in the Seven Days "I Spy," cleverly personifying the camera to make it work, and appealing to the kind soul's sense of humor. After a few weeks of checking for replies, I gave up. But a few months later, I sat down at the computer, bored, and checked the I Spy site. There it was! "Canon SD800 IS, lonely on the beach, I thought you left with someone else..." or something like that. I could not believe my eyes. So I wrote to the newspaper and asked if I really had to pay the fee to subscribe to the personals thingy which was like $20 for me and $20 for the other person for us to get in touch. Another shocker: after hearing my story, the woman at the paper broke the rules and sent my contact information to the write of the other ad, and he got in touch with me, and mailed me my camera after I confirmed that all the pictures of cats were mine. (As an aside, perhaps this is one of the reasons I think Vermont is amazing.)
Seven months and thousands of photos later, I go to turn on my camera, and nothing happens. No error message, no crunching sound, no power light. Aaaaagh. I have tried many fixes, and now I am trying to decide between paying about $130 to repair the same camera, paying $160 for a refurbished different model camera of the same year and similar specs, or $250 for a brand new middle of the line camera. It is tricky, because I am leaning towards the new camera, even though I don't really want to spend money, but I kind of feel like I am betraying my SD800 IS and leaving it behind. Sad sad. But I need a working camera!
Because I had a camera, and enjoyed taking photos, over the course of the years, I ended up being the unspoken designated photographer for any special events or outings, or on any run of the mill days when I saw a photo op and happened to have my camera with me. The thing is, a camera is an unusual material object. It captures moments wrapped up with emotions and memories, which sort of transcend the material.
This current camera and I have covered a lot of ground and been through a lot of moments, and so last July when I lost my camera on a beach in Burlington, I was pretty sad. Hoping that some kind soul in Vermont had picked up my camera on the beach, I wrote a "personals" ad in the Seven Days "I Spy," cleverly personifying the camera to make it work, and appealing to the kind soul's sense of humor. After a few weeks of checking for replies, I gave up. But a few months later, I sat down at the computer, bored, and checked the I Spy site. There it was! "Canon SD800 IS, lonely on the beach, I thought you left with someone else..." or something like that. I could not believe my eyes. So I wrote to the newspaper and asked if I really had to pay the fee to subscribe to the personals thingy which was like $20 for me and $20 for the other person for us to get in touch. Another shocker: after hearing my story, the woman at the paper broke the rules and sent my contact information to the write of the other ad, and he got in touch with me, and mailed me my camera after I confirmed that all the pictures of cats were mine. (As an aside, perhaps this is one of the reasons I think Vermont is amazing.)
Seven months and thousands of photos later, I go to turn on my camera, and nothing happens. No error message, no crunching sound, no power light. Aaaaagh. I have tried many fixes, and now I am trying to decide between paying about $130 to repair the same camera, paying $160 for a refurbished different model camera of the same year and similar specs, or $250 for a brand new middle of the line camera. It is tricky, because I am leaning towards the new camera, even though I don't really want to spend money, but I kind of feel like I am betraying my SD800 IS and leaving it behind. Sad sad. But I need a working camera!