The other night, I crashed a hard drive for the first time. Hoping to add a picture to a post before heading to bed, I opened the camera and took out the disk. But after a long day my left arm ached, my fingers failed to catch it and the disk dropped onto the floor. It didn’t read when I put it in the drive, and after asking Ted for help I finally confessed.
“It fell.”
“To the floor?!”
I didn’t realize that such a drop would ruin it. Ted was cool and calm, reminding me that we have had it for three years, and it’s amazing that the camera itself hasn’t broken, given all the adventures it’s had.
So I went shopping on-line and ordered a new disk. In the meantime though I’m without a digital eye. Feeling blind.
Funny how I hardly used the camera until recently. We got it before our second child was born, and I think I was just too busy with babies to figure out how to use it. To me it was Ted’s camera. I kept using the film one. We also don’t have a printer for the photos, so the digital pictures seemed to me to be a bit dead-end.
But since I’ve started blogging, I realized I could put pictures in my posts. I’ve started carrying my camera with me in my coat pocket (note how I typed *my* camera!) It’s the times I don’t have it that I wish I did. Photography was always in the category of things-I’d-study-if-I-had-the-time-and-money. I admired my classmates with their studies in black and white, creativity exercises with eggs. In my own amateur way I’m having fun experimenting and exploring. Digital photography allows me to make mistakes without the cost of film. I’ve appreciated how easy it is. I like being able to add color to my blog, and to illustrate what it is I’m seeing.
I miss my digital eye. But it’ll be back soon.
