Thursday, December 13, 2012

Something Special

*No pictures to share here, just blabbering.*


My OM-D hasn't seen any use since my 21st birthday at the end of October...
Something wacky happened internally and it started rejecting all of my SD cards.
No clue why, but it just didn't work.

Naturally, being me, I found out about this on the first morning of my dream roadtrip from San Diego, California to Longmont, Colorado. I had reached Las Vegas at about 9am and headed straight for the Mirage hotel to go visit the dolphins in the "Secret Garden". I was excited - my bag was full of the best lenses I could get my hands on and I was really looking forward to shooting sequences of these animals using the OM-D's blazing 9fps. I walked in and bought my ticket for the day but found out that I was an hour early to enter, so I decided to do a little check and clean of my camera and lenses - something I don't often do.
When I pulled out the OM-D and turned it on all I saw was "Write Protect" on the screen. I thought "WTF?" and opened up the card door to pull it out... That's when I found out that the card was literally jammed into the camera. It refused to come out all of the way, even with some force. After a while of trying to carefully angle it out, etc. I got pissed and just tore the fricken thing out. It came out, but the card casing was cracked and some little metal bits in the camera looked bent... At this point I was done and I walked the camera back to the car and locked it in the trunk.

With my OM-D out on injury I was left with my little TG-1 iHS to photograph the dolphins and all of the rest of my roadtrip... I don't have anything against this camera, but to put it plainly, it's just not my go-to camera for landscapes or animals.
But I used it. I didn't have a choice.

After a day of fun interactions with the dolphins in Vegas I got back on I-15 and headed for I-70.
As I approached the Virgin River Gorge the sun was low on the Western horizon, casting an incredible golden light over the harsh desert landscape. To the North was a vast plain of green Joshua Trees and Mesquite backed by dark, ragged mountains... A great scene for a 3:1 landscape.
But I didn't photograph it.
Not only was my TG-1 dead after a day of shooting, but I honestly just didn't feel inspired.
I just felt empty knowing that "my baby" was dead.
So I cranked the stereo, Children of Bodom, and hit cruise control again. (yay ancient "luxury" car)

It hit me pretty hard as I was speeding through the gorge, just how much life that OM-D actually breathed into my creative spirit. I knew that I enjoyed it more than any other camera I've used, but did I actually fricken fall in love with this camera?

The answer came a few days later as I woke up in the back seat of my car and gazed out upon one of the most beautiful sunrise scenes I've ever seen. At this point I was back in good ol Boulder County and I had picked up my E-P3 from a friend... But I couldn't even bring myself to grab it and take pictures. Not because it is a bad camera, it's a great camera and I love using it, but I still just felt so empty.
Dude losing this camera actually took a blow to my heart.
Great, what does that mean?

I'm not completely sure as of yet, but I think I'll be finding out soon after the OM-D gets back from repair.

Now I know that most who read this will think something along the lines of "What a load of crap, it's a camera not a child." Well I don't have any kids so I don't know completely what kind of connection that is so you may have me there, but come on... The lifestyle I've "chosen" for myself has led me to treat my cameras as my best and closest friends, lol. For weeks at a time they are all I have outside of my car and my hiking boots. So yeah, I'm just a bit connected to them.
Then there is the case of the OM-D that feels to me less like a great camera and more like a great companion.


I must be quite the wackjob ;-)

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