After years of saving birthday and Christmas money, I finally own a new toy – a telephoto lens for my Canon Rebel digital camera. Once I bought it in September, I could hardly wait to use it.
So I went to a local football game and took pictures of my friend’s cheerleader daughter. The camera zoomed in so close I could see her nose hairs which were very cute. But almost every picture I took was fuzzy. Not enough light, I thought. Or too much bouncy teenager.
The next weekend I took pictures of stuffed animals, which eliminated the bounce issue, in the middle of the day, which eliminated the the low light situation. My pictures were still fuzzy, especially when I zoomed in close.
With practice, I pinpointed the problem. It’s me. Between the weight of the camera and the lens, my hands get shaky. The solution was easy – use a tripod. Except of course, I forgot my tripod when I went to our church women’s retreat. During an afternoon walk on a beautiful Saturday, the oak trees were brilliant. With or without the tripod, I was determined to capture the colors.
One particular spray of leaves begged a picture. There was just one tiny problem. They were way up on the trunk. So I climbed on top of a nearby picnic table. If I told my husband this, he would be very surprised for he knows I get all dizzy and trembly when I climb stuff.
There I was in the woods, all dizzy and trembly after climbing stuff, wishing for the tripod, trying to steady my hands enough to take the picture. Finally I implemented the Lamaze breathing last used when our daughter was born nineteen years ago. It did the trick. My hands steadied and the telephoto lens and I gave birth to some lovely fall photos.
Suddenly I’m eager for long winter evenings devoted to reading stacks of books. If I memorize enough Lamaze manuals, I should be able to photograph just about anything when spring rolls around.
Until then I’ll be happy with these fall colors. Finally, I gave birth to a red head.
