One of the things (Alright, really the only thing- I like to hedge my bets.) I’m asking for as a Christmas gift from my parents (My mom asked me what I wanted a week ago, okay? I’m not stepping out of line here.) is a small digital camera. Now don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my current digital SLR. It takes wonderful photos, particularly artsy ones, and has been very good to me these last two years. I plan to be good to it for many more.
But…that sucker is big and it’s a little embarrassing to pull it out say, when we’re at a restaurant and I just have to have a photo of the marvelousness of the food or the joint we’re at. Or, for a group photo with friends. While all my pals pull out their shiny, lithe, little silver cameras, I pull out my big, black giant. It’s like saying, “That ain’t a camera. THIS is a camera!” a la Crocodile Dundee.
And it’s kind of hard to be discreet when your camera bag is bigger than your purse. Or your husband’s backpack. Okay, not really, but it might as well be the size of the Goodyear blimp as far as the WMD’s concerned. And that’s not a good thing in his book, especially at Shorty’s. Particularly at Shorty’s.
Unless you’re Lindsay, who was able to get away with taking a picture at Shorty’s. In the WMD’s presence. With the WMD in it! The injustice! But that’s because Lindsay has one of those little cameras.
Man alive, I need to fatten that boy up! You’d think with the amount of Oreos and brownies that are consumed in our house that he’d weigh 500 pounds by now. But it seems that the Matthew Seering diet is a curious one. Eat all the garbage you want and still lose weight, while your wife gains it for you by simply looking at a cookie, no matter how many miles she runs on the instrument of torture that is her treadmill. Score!
Anyway (and I’ll get to my point eventually) I’ve been reading Ali Edwards blog for awhile now and I really like what she’s been doing recently on it. She’s been taking pictures of the regular, run of the mill stuff that happens throughout her family’s day and then doing a photo journal of it, calling it “A Week in the Life”. The photos aren’t of anything spectacular, just a document of their lives on a particular day, each day of the week.
From a genealogy enthusiasts standpoint (Have I mentioned this about myself? Is that weird for someone who is not even 30 yet?), I think this is a fantastic exercise. What I wouldn’t give for something like this on those Cook and Jones ancestors that tease me in their obscurity and lack of records.
Really, when it comes right down to it, life is really filled out more about the day to day minutiae that consumes us than the few really great things that happen, isn’t it? I don’t mean that in a bad way, just a realistic one. And I think there is beauty in the simple day to day.
And I think you should read Ali’s blog to see the awesome things that she’s captured for her family, as well as all of the other great design ideas she has. That lady’s got talent.
So, getting back to my point, I think this is something that I’d like to do, but I can only realistically do it if I have a smaller camera, one that fits in my purse so I can take it with me to work and the grocery store. Don’t you all want to see photos of paperwork and the confusion that is the Asian market? I thought so.
It’s probably better to do this if you have kids, so we’re having a kid so I can do this!
Just kidding (no pun intended).
But here’s a photo of me holding someone elses kid a few weeks ago:
Good grief, I look like I’m about to drop him. See how he’s desperately trying to free himself from my clutches and go back to his mama in the gray headband? Yeah, that’s promising for our future offspring.
N-E-WAY! Thus begins my formal petition for a shiny, little, lithe camera from my parents for Christmas. Anybody want to sign it?
