Can You Take A Photo Field Trip From Your Front Porch?

by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Slogging away on the treadmill Sunday I spied the first robin of the season. Then I saw another and another and another; there were a gaggle of robins. The field across the road seemed to be robin snack central. Since I heard crickets for the first time Saturday night, seemed like a possible reason.

So I grabbed both cameras and took a long jaunt on a photo field trip – to my front porch to be exact. Sat down on the top step and proceeded to take pics of the birds. The camera I carry with me all the time is a Canon PowerShot SD800 IS Digital Elph. Adore this camera, even though it only has a 3.8x zoom lens and 7.1 mega pixels. Bought a pink camera case for it at www.cutecamcase.com which has a backup battery slot pouch too, always need one of those.

Since I was too lazy to go out in the rain and get wet, I brought in the big gun for backup: the Canon PowerShot SX200 with a 12x zoom. While the 12.1 mega pixels are great on this camera, it has just enough heft that I can’t carry it in my purse all the time, but I love the long zoom lens.

The better zoom lens shows the difference between a gaggle of robins in a field and getting up beak and personal with the feathered friends. Photography and writers go together; we capture scenes not only in our imagination but in everyday life too and regurgitate those images into writing. Better than eating worms, but the same premise pretty much.

I’ve developed a camera collection by accident since I can’t let go of my 35mms I used on the newspaper. I’m getting ready to make an actual display shelf to show off my camera collection; I still have the 110 camera I carried in my empty ammo pouch during Army basic. Then there is the whole new world of folks taking smart phone pics too, but I find it impossible to give up my wide-angle lenses and zooms – photo details rule!

Have you taken a photo field trip from your porch or front door lately? Give it a try!