The photo blog lived up to its name today. It really was a bad day with a camera, at least so far. I have been fighting some sort of flu for the past week and being exhausted is my default state. That’s before heading out in the snowfall to try and get some atmospheric pictures.
The first thing I discovered is that I have lost even more of the use of my injured right shoulder. I could barely heft my Canon EOS R5 with the attached Sigma 150-600mm 5-6.3 Contemporary DG OS HSM EF mount lens and doing so was pure agony. My eyes watered getting the shots I merged into the composite image above of Strathmore’s Municipal Building.
It’s hard to see in the photo, but the Municipal Building’s flags are at half mast as one of Canada’s former prime ministers, Brian Mulroney, passed at age 84 this past week. I was not his biggest fan, but I do believe that it is important to respect the office if not the individual, so I am glad the town lowered the flags for him.
Strathmore, Alberta, 2024-03-02
Jr. High, Strathmore, Alberta, 2024-03-02
The flu was draining my energy as I worked the panoramic of Strathmore High. My vision started turning white at the edges and progressing towards the center. Half of my sight was gone by the time I made it back to Vlad the Impala and I had to sit and recover for fifteen minutes before I threw in the towel and headed home.
Throwing in the towel is one of those things I do several times a day. All it took was half an hour of sitting in my chair and looking out the window at the ongoing snowfall and that was it. I grabbed the Bonzart Ziegel and headed out the door for a few shots of the playground across the street from our home.
2024-03-02
Alberta, 2024-03-02
2024-03-02
Dumb move. My energy drained even more quickly this time and I was dizzy and feeling ready to pass out by the time I got the photo of the bench. My front door is not far from the playground but it felt like a mile away as I headed back, my vision once again fading to the center. Adding insult to injury, I took a tumble on some hidden ice and scraped up the front of the Bonzart a touch. I also landed badly on my right knee which is now swollen and oozing blood, but I am still of course more annoyed about the indignity suffered by my camera. The main thing is that it is still serviceable, albeit with a touch of added personality.
“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?” my wife asked as I limped in the front door covered in snow from top to bottom. She helped me strip off my wet clothes and sent me upstairs like an errant six-year-old, which is probably not far from the truth.
Alberta, 2024-03-02
Alberta, 2024-03-02
The snow kept going into the afternoon and I was itching to get a couple more shots, but lacking the energy to head out with a camera. So I didn’t go out. I set the Canon EOS 10D up on a tripod with the Canon 70-300 EF IS USM f4-5.6 lens inside my living room window and poached a couple of shots from the comfort of my home. Perhaps not great art, but it scratched the itch to use a camera again today.
I’m banged up. My toy camera is banged up. But at the end of it all, the photos themselves are bang up, at least to me. Even better, if you’re going to eat shit and go arse over tea kettle on some ice, do it with the $30 used camera and not the uber-expensive mirrorless camera and lens combo. I’m putting today down as a good, bad day.
Today’s images were created using a Canon EOS R5 with a Sigma 150-600mm 5-6.3 Contemporary DG OS HSM EF mount lens for the municipal building, the aforementioned camera body with a Canon 17-40mm EF L USM f4 lens for the images of the schools, and my Bonzart Ziegel for the bordered playground images. I set up my Canon EOS 10D up on a tripod with the Canon 70-300 EF IS USM f4-5.6 lens for the last two, borderless playground images. I also used a Walmart Great Value bandaid for my right knee, so there.
