I love photography because you can freeze time – a smile, an expression, the way the sun sets on a bright red tree in the fall.
I have collected a few cameras over the years, and the technology has changed immensely. A few months ago, while wandering through an antique store in Troy, I found an old box camera for twenty bucks – it obviously didn’t work, and I’m not sure how or where you could find film for a camera circa 1920′s. If I ever see one again, I’m going to buy it, but my next camera will be definitely be a Nikon Digital SLR. My Aunt Linda bought me my first camera for Christmas when I was about fourteen- a Nikon, and after that I was hooked.
Poster picture for The Great Depression - By Dorothea Lange
A few weeks a go, Sam and I wandered down to the NY State Museum, where they are featuring some works of art by my second favorite photographer, Dorothea Lange. (My favorite photographer being Robert Doisneau.) If you haven’t been to the exhibit yet, you should definitely get over there – the pictures were amazing, and they captured an unfathomable truth about The Great Depression (how people can compare the current economic recession to the Great Depression is absolutely absurd and it irks me – but that is for another post.)
I think it’s safe to say – none of the subjects were smiling and no one was “striking a pose.” The images were real-life candid photos, and while strolling through the exhibit – I wished photographers like Dorothea Lange were still alive to capture heartfelt images like this of people in third world countries or even neglected places in America. The exhibit is there until March 14 – and it’s free.
By Arthur Rosenstein
Anyway – back to buying a new camera – I have been saving up all summer for a new digital SLR, and my savings account was looking pretty happy. Then Sam and I decided we wanted to go away on vacation, and my savings would be depleted. We still haven’t decided if we are going away, maybe in the spring we will start planning again. Now that we’re not going anywhere for a while, I thought I might be able to buy my camera.
Nope. I took my dog to the vet for her annual visit, and I asked for a print out of how much it would cost to get her spayed. My dog is four years old, and I have asked for this print out four times – hoping that the number will somehow shrink. My vet seems to think that it will cost a total of $900 to spay my dog and clean her teeth (and I think the price keeps going up). Nine hundred dollars is the exact amount of money my new camera would be. P.S. I booked her appointment to get snipped.
Feeling defeated and poor, I told Sam that I was going to buy my camera anyway and charge it (which I never do), so Sam (a horrible secret keeper) informed me he wanted to buy me a new camera for Christmas.
I told him if he bought such a wonderful and expensive gift for me that I would share, but after writing about my excursion at the museum, I might be in Africa taking pictures for Time Magazine.
2 Responses
November 12th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
I totally agree with you about the show at the museum. I wish everyone would take a half hour or more to just quietly contemplate those images.
November 13th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
This is so funny because I was just begging Dave last week to get a DSLR for Christmas. I was looking at the Canon Rebel but I tend to agree with you, Nikons are better.
On another note, I cannot believe it would cost $900 to spay Molly. That’s crazy!
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