e-510 50mm 1/160 f/2 iso 1600

Krishen called photogroffee on us today and the weather stayed un-rainy long enough for a bunch of us, many of whom I haven’t seen in months - and in some cases years - to get caffeinated and get out there and take some pictures en masse. It was great fun, if a bit chilly great fun, and we took the time to visit three cafes and one SPCA along the way.

For my part, I felt I was fighting with my hardware all day. I get that way sometimes, especially when I’m a bit cold, and I came home happy for the time we all spent together but frustrated as a photographer. It’s not the camera, it’s never the camera or the lens or flash, for that matter, sometimes it’s the light, but in my catalogue of favourites there are examples from every kind of light imaginable, so that’s not it on any given day either, unless I’m being paid to deliver a certain kind of shot.

And then I found the picture above of Caroline and a bit of Davin, and being warm and cozy with a toasted bagel with cream cheese in front of me at the spiral café I for a moment stopped fighting the camera in favour of actually working with it. This isn’t a one-off shot, I did about two dozen similar ones, the first few with the blown highlight overlay on the lcd to set exposure bias (-0.7) and then with the histogram on, then a few more to check histograms which resulted in a full -1.0 bias, and then I used the depth of field preview to ensure I kept Caroline’s eyes and hair in focus while sending Davin deep off into bokeh-land. Fought the camera all day, but when I really wanted to work together with it, it came through and delivered my vision, and while not my best photo of these two ever, I came through a bit too. Just a little, enough to keep me going on.