Thursday, June 4, 2009

Missed photo op

Seriously, I need some suggestions for a new camera. I'm missing some blissful photo ops because I've effectively killed two cameras in two months. And ran out of batteries for the SLR. Don't tell Andy. He'll kill ME. Any suggestions on digital cameras? Important features: a short lapse time between shots (to keep up with the girls), excellent image quality, and good zoom capabilities. All this for under $300. Soon.

Last weekend, in our WV Weekend tradition, we went here:
http://www.hangingrocktower.org/images/BooneAerial.htm
that I found out about on:
http://www.hangingrocktower.org/index.html
and yes, of course, the views were amazing....

But the wildflowers! We were literally wading through wild geraniums and side stepping Jack-in-the-Pulpits (Or is it Jacks-in-the-Pulpit. No. I'm pretty sure I just saw one Jack. And didja know that if you see a Jack, the plant is a Jenny?!), and wild columbine, Fire Pinks (which are actually bright - I mean, shockingly bright - red), may apples, trillium (not blooming yet), and what I think is Viper's Bugloss - an ugly name for an amethyst-colored spiky, quasi-shrub.

It was a "grueling" not-quite-one-mile-up hike for the mama with a Giant Baby on her back, a four and a half year old girl whose legs often-ly "needed a rest," but alas, thank goodness for Daddyo who played the encourager and peacemaker for a mama whose patience filled this space: {} and who took over the Baby Backpack 3/4 of the way up (to be fair, I carried her the whole way back!). Of course, once we made it to the top, it was so worth the walk. No raptors, but we did get eyeball to beak with several turkey vultures.... Even Han was asking when we were coming back to spend the night. (Can we do that there??)Andy made my ankles weak by resting his elbows ON and arms OVER the Hanging Rock and inviting Hannah Berry to join him - which she did - for a minute, anyways. BUT NO PICTURE! Grumble, grumble.....

I counted three peach trees in kissin' distance of the fort - just loaded. We stopped at the Cheese Store in Gap Mills for provisions before our journey, but fresh peaches at 3800' would be an exquisite treat. I can't wait to go back. With a camera, of course.

2 comments:

AMW said...

I use a Canon PowerShot, but will probably look at upgrading soon. Sometimes the lapse time is just a tad too long for me, but the camera is probably 4 or 5 years old, so they may have improved it by now. I take pictures ALL THE TIME, everywhere I go. Even if half of them come out crummy, I'm always snapping. Since they're digital, I can delete them later (which I subsequently never do).

Your trip sounds wonderful, and I can see why you were disappointed to not have a camera along.

AMW

Heidi said...

What did we do before digital? I do the same thing - often not even using the viewfinder - and often relying heavily on the crop feature in my photo editor. THAT is why I need a high pixel count - for enlargements and crops. Our "good" digital is also 4-5 y.o. I'll let you know, too, if I come across a good one...