Point and shoot

My Nikon DSLR camera got to become a little cumbersome to lug around when travelling. It’s fine when all I’m doing is observing and taking pictures, but you need something smaller and lighter, especially when participating in certain outdoor activities such as fishing, hiking etcetera, when it can easily be slipped into a pocket.

I recently purchased a Canon point-and-shoot camera which fits the bill for portability perfectly, has all the usual compact camera features and more, and does allow for quite a bit of manual control. It also has a nifty GPS built-in which allows you to track exactly where the photos were taken. It has a 12-Megapixel sensor and an effective 25-500mm optical zoom lens.

I tried it out while fishing, on a trip last week to the coastal city of Durban. Here are some results in the fully automatic mode. I have yet to experiment further with the manual settings.

I reckon I could take some pretty good photos with this little baby once I get the hang of using it. It’s therefore going with me everywhere from now on.

Holidays FTW

I’ve been away on holiday and just got back a few hours ago. For the first time – at least the only time I can remember – I came back feeling truly rested.

Every other time – at least as far as I can remember – I returned from a holiday, whether locally or overseas, feeling very tired and wishing I could go back on holiday again.

I guess the reason for this happy turn of events is that, while away I did pretty much nothing. Nada! Zip! Zero! Or at least as close to nothing as you could possibly do. And if nothing excludes sitting on my fat ass [yes I’ve noticed it has gotten fatter] watching television and videos, eating, drinking, talking to friends and family [when I felt I had to say something], and a little reading, a little facebooking, a little blogging.

I was in Durban, mere kilometers from the beach, but I couldn’t bother going. I did visit a cousin, and I sat on my fat ass and ate good food, and drank wine, and talked and drank more wine and some Aquavit too. I visited another cousin and did more of the same, but this time whisky was our drink of choice.

My camera and camcorder stayed put in the boot of my car – the whole time I was there. I did not even bother to remove them while unpacking. So no photos this time; just vivid memories of lazing.

While there, I had a birthday and turned 47, but had to be reminded by family that I had only turned 46. That’s kind of disturbing because I’d spent a whole year telling everyone I was 46; even filled out some forms stating that as my age. Boy, was this holiday needed?

I’m going to make a point of doing more nothing on future holidays… if my friends and family will oblige. Thank you very much!

Anyway, I’m back and all ready to get fatigued again. C’mon world, give me your best shot!