The Struggle Of Man Versus His Camera

One of the perks of my current employment is that it's set in a pretty rural setting*, so there are some nice scenic places to go. Of course, my job requires me to be out there for several hours every day during the week anyway, so I'm not always in the proper mood to appreciate it. Ticks and horseflies have that effect on me. However, Thursday was a rather easy day, so I felt like going to see something, rather than just stay at the housing I'm currently typing this from.

My supervisor had mentioned a spot along the river near one of the places I do my work, that was a place one could go swimming. I wasn't really in the mood for swimming, but I thought it might be worth going to check out, on the off chance I felt like it some time in the future. So I cruise over there, and there's no one around, which suits me fine, and i spend a few minutes just wandering along the bank. The opposite side of the river is a fairly impressive, bluff, I suppose, and I thought to myself that Alex would probably appreciate this view. Sadly, I hadn't thought to bring my camera (it was a very spur of the moment decision to go out there. So I resolved to return at the first opportunity with the camera and try to capture the view.

Well, Friday was roughly as easy as Thursday**, so I grabbed my camera and set forth. I got back to the same place, and took my snapshot, which I'll include below. It's about 650 KB, fyi.

Looking at the picture, though, it didn't really capture the grandeur I felt was there. Maybe the lens wasn't wide angle enough, in which case I was out of luck. But perhaps I could get something in the foreground, for scale. It'd have to be something Alex knew the size of though. My vehicle? That might work, but I was worried that the gravel riverbank, fairly soft in places, wouldn't mesh well with my vehicle, which lacks 4-wheel drive. I suppose a true believer in the art of photography would risk their transportation, but that's apparently not me. Then I recalled that the camera had a timer. If I could find a good place on the ground to set it, maybe I could get in the shot, and serve as the scale. Sure, that's the trick.

Just to be safe, I selected the "25" timer option, and after finding a suitable spot (one which would capture me and the majority of the scene behind me), I hit the button and ran to the spot, turning and striking a goofy pose. Well, nothing appeared to happen, so I fidgeted, switching poses, until after a minute I figured it was safe to go check. The picture showed the other bank of the river just fine, but it also showed my legs on the left side, somewhat blurry as I started running. Turns out that was "2S", as in "2 seconds", not "25". Let this be a lesson, read the instruction manual.

So I tried again, with the other timer option. But I wasn't sure how long I had so when I hit the button, I took off as fast as I could, looking back to gauge if the camera was about to take the shot. Did your parents ever warn you to watch where you were going, not where'd you been? Mine did***. Me Running Fast + Not Watching Where I'm Going + Rocky River Bank = Pratfall. Undaunted, I leapt up and resumed sprinting, and even managed to assume a pose before the camera went off, though my poor cap is clearly visible, crushed on the ground where I went splat. That one turned out pretty well, all things considered, but I did take one more, where I made it to the river's edge without tripping, just to make sure. I think they would have worked better if I could finagle a boat to get me on the opposite riverbank. I still look too large.

* This is also one of the downsides, as it limits your options for places to go to interact with people or purchase goods without having to drive very far.

** For the record, this is a fairly rare occurrence.

*** Though my dad waited until after I ran smack into a steel support girder outside an Ace Hardware to lay that bit of wisdom on me.