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| photograph by dawn chandler of dale chihuly glass sculpture at the denver botanic gardens, october 2014. |
“Ohhhhhhh…. That hurts. That’s so sad,” the man at the table next to me said when my camera hit the cement floor of the Santa Fe Baking Company last Sunday.
“It’s okay; it’s durable,” I said, noting that the camera appeared to be totally intact.
But later that afternoon when I went to take another picture, it very definitely wasn’t okay: my 7-year old Cannon Powershot was busted.
And, wouldn’t you know it, in just few days I was to embark on a journey that, for an artist, is unimaginable without a camera: One month of painting, hiking and — I’d hoped — photography in the heart of a western mountain range. [Details about THAT in a future post!].
I needed a replacement camera N O W.
I started looking up cameras online, and was utterly and completely overwhelmed. Yeah I had this sweet little Cannon, But really? I had grasped little about photography and cameras since my Photography-101 with a Pentax K 1000 continuing education class in Berkeley c.1989 back in my deli-girl days between college and grad school. And I sure as heck didn’t have time to start educating myself now about cameras.
Ugh.
I closed my eyes and slowly started to rub my temples, in an attempt to stave off the headache that was about to descend.
And then it occurred to me: Ask my FaceBook Photography peeps for advice. For lucky for me, I’m connected to quite a few gifted photographers.
Jump seven days and I find myself the owner of a Fujifilm X-M1, a whiz-bang of a “mirrorless” digital camera that’s — OH. MY. GOSH. — such an upgrade from my little pocket camera.
Indeed.
W O W.
And what better place to give it a real test run than the Dale Chihuly glass sculpture installation at the Denver Botanic Gardens? I can think of none.
And so…. I part from you for some weeks with this cheerful slide show I’ve created of a glittering autumn morning. Enjoy!
p.s.: I’ll be back in touch in early November with tons of new paintings, photographs, insights, and a whole new website and blog base. See you then!