"Can you take a picture for me?"
What is it about this sentence that turns anyone into a complete idiot? Seriously, people act like a camera is something they've never seen before. "Okay, which button do I push?" "The one on the top right, where it's always been." Like it's some kind of brand new invention. Then they fumble around with it, looking at it sideways, resembling a monkey playing with a new toy. They take forever to set up a shot, moving back and forth, still trying to figure out how this "magic box" works. Then, of course, you get the photos back and inevitably the picture is off-center, or crooked, or half your head is missing. "Really sir, this is a GREAT shot of my feet." My personal favorite is when there is more of the background in the picture than the subject. Is it really that hard people? And forget giving a digital camera to anyone over the age of 50, you might as well give it to your dog...it would probably come out better. "You see, there's this viewscreen on the back of the magic box that shows you exactly what the picture will look like. Then you simply press down the button on the top right." As though all this wasn't difficult enough for them to comprehend, just try adding a flash. "Did the flash go off?" "How do you make the flash go?" "Maybe I should take it again." Look, mister, I only have 20 pictures left on that camera...
It's times like this I think that cloning isn't such a bad idea...
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2 comments:
I gotta disagree with you on this one.
Whenever I'm handed the camera, it seems there's at least 2 buttons. Then sometimes it clicks immediately, sometimes there's that annoying click-delay. Did I get the picture they wanted, or not? Rather than waste the subject's time and uphold foot traffic, I ask first.
I'm a big fan of this practice. It's friendly and I've had some nice exchanges with people I otherwise wouldn't have met. A few bad pictures seems like a fair exchange to me. Besides, you can review right away with a digital, so no film lost.
Who would you clone...Ansel Adams??? (Personally I would clone Matthew McConnaughay...but that's another thing entirely!) I myself am afraid of other people's cameras.
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