Posts Tagged ‘apricots’
The Actuality of Actuations
Look in the Nikon manual, and there’s no mention, at least in the index, of “actuations.” Look on dictionary.com and there are no definitions. Go to Ask Jeeves and there are the beginnings of an explanation. An actuation is the actual shutter click, every single one, that your camera makes. I learned this the hard way last week in trying to sell my wonderful Nikon D 3 camera on Ebay.
Stupid me. I thought an actuation was the count number of pictures in files on my computer. Not so. So, in trying to sell my camera, I inadvertently gave the wrong “actuation count.” The guy who “bought my camera” has informed me of the error of my ways, and has asked for $550 back from our agreed upon fee. Right now I’m in limbo waiting to see if he wants the camera, or wants to return it to me. That camera was an extension of me. To him, it’s just a machine, perhaps a defective one in his eyes. He has until Wednesday to decide my fate. I feel so empty.
I love photography, I loved that camera, I have loved the promise of digital photography and the learning curve it takes to be a good photographer. I loved the fact that with a digital camera, I could take all the pictures I wanted to take. There is no film. I could just delete the bad shots. But now I’ve learned, for every shot I’ve taken, especially the bad ones, I must now pay the price.
I am struggling to rediscover the art and beauty after this most clinical of weeks. I have a new camera, and as I took some shots this morning, I felt a need to ration them. But just for a while. Why?
Last night we bought two new trees, a Nutall Oak that will grow 100 feet and far outlive me. The other tree? It’s an apricot, with the most beautiful blossoms, giving the first promise of spring after a very long winter. The tree, still lying sideways in the truck this morning, just beckoned me to photograph it. And so I did, perhaps 100 times. A tiny bit of the beauty and joy photography brings to my life, returned. I only wish that the new camera will have the soul of the oak tree, and the longevity, too. I do know that it can capture the beauty of the apricot tree, but with decreasing actuations.
