My trusty Canon Digital Elph and I parted ways a few nights ago, somewhere in a hotel room in Ioannina. It was not a voluntary parting on my behalf, but I trust it has found a good home, whereever it is, after taking thousands of photos for me in at least six - no, seven - countries since 2005. We had a good run.
[By way of decoding - Saturday morning we were heading off to our first site of the day, the museum in Ioannina, and I realized my camera wasn't in my little day bag. I ran back to the bus early to check if it was in any of my other bags, didn't find it, ran back to the hotel where I did a frantic 3 minute search to assure myself it wasn't there either, boarded the bus feeling confident it would still turn up among my things or those of my roommate.... suffered a day of site and museum visits - including Vergina (a World Heritage site and probable tomb of Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great, not to mention place I've always wanted to visit) - sans camera... only to have it be nowhere to be found eleven hours and a mountain range later.]
Because the next day was Sunday, when no retail stores are open in Greece, and with our packed schedule, it wasn't possible to get a replacement until lunchtime today, and even that was pretty miraculous because we happened to be in the large city of Thessolonike and had an afternoon to do with as we wished. But after an adventure at the local Public (Greek Best Buy), in which I and my erstwhile shopping companion set off the alarms on the display cameras at least 4 times, I am the somewhat reluctant but nevertheless relieved owner of a new, blue Sony Cybershot.
[By way of decoding - Saturday morning we were heading off to our first site of the day, the museum in Ioannina, and I realized my camera wasn't in my little day bag. I ran back to the bus early to check if it was in any of my other bags, didn't find it, ran back to the hotel where I did a frantic 3 minute search to assure myself it wasn't there either, boarded the bus feeling confident it would still turn up among my things or those of my roommate.... suffered a day of site and museum visits - including Vergina (a World Heritage site and probable tomb of Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great, not to mention place I've always wanted to visit) - sans camera... only to have it be nowhere to be found eleven hours and a mountain range later.]
Because the next day was Sunday, when no retail stores are open in Greece, and with our packed schedule, it wasn't possible to get a replacement until lunchtime today, and even that was pretty miraculous because we happened to be in the large city of Thessolonike and had an afternoon to do with as we wished. But after an adventure at the local Public (Greek Best Buy), in which I and my erstwhile shopping companion set off the alarms on the display cameras at least 4 times, I am the somewhat reluctant but nevertheless relieved owner of a new, blue Sony Cybershot.
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| It takes panorama photos! With a little practice, it should, anyway. |
Losing my old camera wasn’t nearly as traumatic as not
having a camera in all the places we went in a 48 hour period. We move fast and see a lot, and to not be
able to document and record those moments was really distressing. Everyone else was really great, and really
sympathetic about offering me the photos they were taking or their services as
a camera b*tch, but it’s just not the same – I realized how much I construct
experiences through the lens of my camera, and how much the photos I’m inclined
to take – versus those someone else would – are suggestive of the things I’m
interested and fundamentally of the way I view the world. No one else’s pictures will quite do.
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