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.

Photo # 16: I must go down to the sea again…

I joined a few friends last week on an excursion to Port St. Johns, a well-known fishing haven on the South East Coast of South Africa.

Our timing could not have been worse as it coincided with a cold front coming up from the Eastern Cape that dumped a heap of snow in areas a little more than 150 kilometers from us, and freezing rain for days where we were lodging.

Needless to say, we only managed to catch a few fish, and decided to pack it in and move further up the coast to Margate…where we encountered more rain. However I did manage to get this shot on the only day that was relatively shower-free.

Spotting the socks left drying on the tree trunk reminded me of this little ditty I heard many years ago:

I must go down to the sea again

the lonely sea and sky

I left my socks there

I want to see if they’re dry

 

Photo #1: Fishing on the Vaal River

Fishing on the Vaal River, South Africa

Date taken: 12 August 2008 @ approximately 10H01

Nikon D40, 18mm focal length, 1\1000sec – F/3.5, ISO 200

I thought that the shadows and the reflections of the trees in the water on the opposite bank, would add some interest to the standard fishermen scene. I also deliberately used this angle to get the diagonal line of the river bank running about mid-way through the picture.