Song: Lazy Calm
Group: Cocteau Twins
Yesterday...
was a long day!
I had suffered two major frustrations...
both of which I have taken steps to completely rectify...
for I shall never suffer those frustrations again.
The first was that it was over a thirteen hour drive in total.
Never again.
We are aging...
and I never plan to drive for that long ever again.
In the future...
we are going to stay in a dog friendly motel overnight to break up any long drive...
get a good night's sleep...
eat good meals...
and then start again fresh in the morning.
The second frustration was the camera my wife had given to me
(as she no longer blogs).
OMG...
although it takes excellent pictures...
IF...and ONLY IF...
you take your time between shots...
as it takes two seconds to reset between shots...
the lighting is bright...
and you zoom in steps
(if not...it zooms all the way in or out without stopping).
As I take the majority of my shots on the move WHILE driving...
I need a camera which quickly resets for the follow up shots...
takes very sharp images even in low light...
one I can instinctively point and shoot while I am driving...
as I keep looking at the road and just guesstimate the framing of the photos...
even pointing the camera behind me outside the driver's side window...
but mostly through the windshield or to the sides of the car...
and so...
I need the zoom function to operate flawlessly and exactly as I operate it...
and the auto focus must operate extremely quickly as I will often...
with just a quick flick of the wrist...
take two photos within a second and at two different angles.
I had missed so many shots during this trip because the camera
was still reseting and focusing...
all the while the zoom kept going all the way in or out instead
of stopping when I took off pressure on the zoom lever.
Although I still have my iPhone camera...
and my older zoom camera I use when I trike
(it is based on old tech...and is not so sharp...but is weather proof)...
I will just use my present camera when I trike...
but I must get a new camera for all of my other shots.
And so...
I gave my wife back her old camera...
and I am researching a much better camera.
It is so frustrating for me to miss once in a lifetime shots
because of not having the right equipment.
I must think ahead and anticipate the shots because I am on the move...
and so...
I compose the shot in my head...
as to what it will look like once I reach a certain point on the road...
and I must shoot very decisively and quickly...
all the while not even looking at the shot...
while, instead, keeping my eyes on the road...
and then flicking the camera to my best guesstimate as to its location...
while depressing the shooting button halfway to allow it to autofocus...
and then shooting the shot without further thought.
This is why I need a camera which will allow me to do this...
so I may intuitively shoot...
and mentally set up the following shots...
through muscle memory and the knowledge of how fast the zoom functions
so I may just judge how much it had auto zoomed by mere mental timing
without having to look at the result...
and I, of course, need auto stabilization...
as I move the camera quickly from shot to shot.
OMG...
it is not the normal heavier frustrating events in life which really get me...
as I am simply unfazed by many of the things others are bothered by
(so long as it is out of my control)...
but I have the temperament of a toddler with seemingly small frustrations...
especially when it involves the lack of foreseeable engineering in equipment...
but...
I don't simply complain...
I rectify...
and so...
I shall get a much better camera...
and I shall no longer suffer long car trips.
Okay...
rant over.
This was our complete journey...
with the dark blue line signifying the photos of this article of my blog...
and with the light blue line signifying the next blog article's photos
(the route home).
We had gone down the Million Dollar Highway from Ouray to Silverton...
and we then continued on to Durango...
and then back towards home via a different route...
to avoid having to pass through the same curvy mountain roads...
as my wife was getting car sick.
And Bandi stood up the whole way...
at first...
because she had her body out the side window...
but, as we reached the mountain roads...
I think she controlled any nausea by standing up.
While I hadn't felt nauseated...
I had lost my appetite...
which, for me...
is a big deal :)
We had set out at about 10 AM...
and this was just down the street from home...
as we drove down our mountain ridge line at the beginning of our journey.
We took the southern route to the continental divide as it was more scenic.
This was the reservoir I had earlier gone to for sunset shots.
The water level is super low...
as we had a relatively dry Winter
(low amount of snowfall).
We were nearing Ouray.
Ouray is an outrageously beautiful town.
It was still early in the season for the full fall colors...
but thunderstorms were scheduled for later in the week...
and I would have rather gone a little too early than too late...
especially if the storms had ended up blowing many of the leaves off the Aspens.
Bandi had a great time seeing all of the sights with the wind in her face.
I stopped every so often so Bandi could use the bathroom...
and get a drink of water.
Silverton is the official end of the Million Dollar Highway...
but I continued on to Durango...
much farther on down the same highway...
and it was worth it.
There was so much more beauty beyond.
We had left Silverton as we continued on to the town of Durango.
I will have the rest of photos in the next article.
