I Kind of Love the Zoo. A Lot.
There is a growing list of people who would never believe me if I told them Alexis started life as an extremely shy kid. That whole part of her personality has seemingly vanished into thin air, which is great news 99% of the time. And then there is that 1% of the time when I'm running an Getting Started with Your DSLR Course and am having a bunch of people over at our house. That 1% of the time absolutely positively requires an evacuation plan for the short person. Otherwise she will talk and talk and talk and talk and generally make sure the entire day turns into a The Universe Rotates Around Alexis celebration.
Which is EXACTLY why the husband was tasked with taking Alexis somewhere, anywhere all day this Saturday so I could do a little teachering and stuff.
I don't know what they did all day. I just know that the kid returned home with a lot of new stuff. Her superpower is making people want to buy her things.
My superpower, on the other hand, is pushing a bunch of buttons on my camera and completely forgetting that I did it.
I shoot in manual mode 99% of the time. I normally have no problem remembering to adjust the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO as needed. But during those classes, I keep finding myself pushing every freakin' button on my camera. I change every option in the menu, leaving myself with a camera that only has back button focus, shoots in continuous mode, has some weird metering setting, and blah, blah, blah. Generally, the camera works better as a paper weight than a camera by the time I'm done screwing it up.
All of that would be fine and dandy if I would remember that I had done it before I go to use the camera again.
Of course I don't remember.
This morning Alexis and I drug a friend to the zoo so that we could see the Penguin Parade. We happen to have an annual pass (the best $80 we spend every year), so I have no issue with running in to see just one exhibit. Or, in this case, one very short "parade" that is simply a few minutes when some of the penguins walk outside. It only happens on weekends for a limited time, but who cares? That's nothing short of spectacular that you can sit on a curb and watch a penguin walk RIGHT past you.
Obviously, my camera needed to attend this fun. Obviously, I completely forgot that I had jacked it up during the photography class the day before.
The good news: I realized my error in time to still get some decent shots.
The bad news: I could have gotten a lot of much better shots if I wasn't such a goober.
I guess that means I have to go back again next weekend. And the weekend after. Just in case.
(The next Getting Started with Your DSLR workshops will be February 29th and March 17th. More details will be on the Photography Blog soon, but feel free to email to register now, if you want.)
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Reader Comments (5)
i need a pretty big girl camera so that i can take your class. although not on march 17th, when i will be in a gutter somewhere downtown.
and i don't think you are a goober. you got some great shots considering you had to work around crazy people all up in your way!
I hate when I do that, and it usually happens at the most inconvenient times.
The penguins are cute. I love them and want to take one home. I think after the whole stray dog incident the husband definitely wouldn't allow that one.
Penguins! Whee!
Next weekend can you steal me one? I'll pay the shipping on it. ;) Oh wait...maybe I should check Amazon. I'm sure they totally have a section for live animals right?
Too cute!
do they let you touch the penguins if they're close enough? that would be so much awesome that i'd drag myself to the zoo just to do that