A little whisper in the dark

Finally got that camera I've wanted. Nothing much to say about it, except that I hope I can make full use of its capabilities. Pictures say a thousand words? Let's see if it holds true.

Interestingly enough, went the salesman placed the camera in my hands I felt a sense of awe, akin to being issued your own rifle during National Service. Here was something that belonged to you (at least for the time being). It was a tool, and the fact that the G3 is not a point-and-shoot camera, it has all these manual functions, makes it as much of a tool for shooting frames as an M16 is for shooting 5.56mm bullets.

You regard the object in your hands with more than a little apprehension. You might have read about it from books, magazines, and online articles, but it isn't something you got to hold before that very moment. The heft in your hands, the tactile sensations as your fingers run over the cool surfaces of the object, all make the experience an interesting one, to say the least.

How do I explain my intense interest in mechanical things? I'm probably not the only guy who is; many guys are. When I was young, I'd take a screwdriver to my toys, taking them apart and putting back together successfully (most of the time at least). As I grew older, I got into plastic scale modelling. It was fun, but then there wasn't anything below the exterior that made the machine become alive. Radio control cars became as much a study of scale miniature models as it is for mechanical workings, as well as basic physics. A natural progression was the bike, and this was even more of a blend of man and machine, in the way that human muscular output becomes converted into mechanical energy. Being a bike mechanic for three quarters of a year was one of the happier times of my working life, because I was doing something I liked. The unfortunate part was that there was a condescending boss, and further studies.

I never did go back to the bike shop again to work, though. When I didn't ride my bike for the entire time I worked as a bike mechanic, I knew I could never mix hobby and work.

posted by Chung Leong @ 2:34 AM