[Leica] No Camera

[vroger at yahoo.com (V.Roger)]

Dear B.D.:
When I was shooting film, I always had an Olympus XA
on my belt. When I converted (and I use that term
advisedly)to digital- at least in major part, I
searched for a no lag replacement for the XA- I now
travel with the tiny Pentax Optio S4i on my belt.
Granted- the size of the CCD(??) does not give me
anywhere near the quality of the DSLR, but I always,
and I mean always have it with me. The choice of an
image, of not quite the quality that a larger digital
will give me ( the small one subject, of course, to
correction and manipulation under photoshop) and no
image- at least to me is no choice at all. I really
recommend a small P/S just for that purpose. Bests:
vroger

B.D. Wrote:So late Wednesday evening I got a call
telling me that I had to be on a
7:30 a.m. flight to Florida Thursday morning,
returning late Friday. I
knew I'd be working the whole time, and with my back I
really need to
cut down on weight and clutter, so I didn't take a
camera - first such
decision in a long time.

Coming back Friday evening I had a window seat in the
rear of the plane
and just at sundown missed one of the best 'wing
shots' I've seen in
many a year - and I even had a clean, reflection-free
window through
which to shoot. Sky and clouds an unearthly pink going
to violet; last
of the sunlight turning the protrusions beneath the
wings to pure gold;
wing lights sharp and well defined; leading edge of
the wing a pure
black, thin band. And no camera. Okay, the photo would
have been a
cliché, but it might have been a good cliché. :-)

As if that wasn't bad enough, while taking the subway
home from the
airport, while I was waiting to switch trains I was
surrounded by a
gaggle of young girls - mid-teens, laughing and
chattering away, and
about two-thirds of them were wearing either gold or
silver paper 
tiaras
spelling out the words Happy Birthday. It could have
been a killer b&w
shot...But no camera.

Back or no back, I have learned my lesson. :-(