you never know

  This afternoon I'm going to the rodeo. My tickets are a birthday gift from my son and his wife. We will all go together. It should be a good time. This is the first time the rodeo has come to Greensboro. The fire department sponsored this as a fund-raising event and I think it is a great idea. I didn't know that was even a thing, a traveling rodeo. It's like the carnivals that you see every summer. They come in, set up the grounds, and put on a show. I'm hoping to see some bull riding. I know very little about the sport of rodeo other than it takes a tough man to engage in that sport. I don't ride horses or bulls! I have watched on television. Years ago, I owned a cowboy hat and wore boots, even said a few ya'lls and howdys. I am looking forward to this experience. 

  In thinking about the show, I decided I should pull out my camera, check the batteries and memory cards. I would like to get some good pictures of whatever action there is. I remembered buying that last digital camera when my grandson was playing soccer. I felt like I needed a better camera that could zoom in and capture those action shots. Not being a photographer, I just take pictures, I'm not too well versed in shutter speeds and that sort of stuff. I simply put that camera in automatic mode, there are several settings to choose from. I'm thinking it will work for the rodeo too. It's funny because I haven't used that camera in quite some time now, well over a year or so I'd say. Like most people today, I've been using my phone. My granddaughter laughs at the quality of my phone/camera as hers is one of those I-phone things. She paid a lot more for that phone than I paid for my first car! Her phone did cost about five times more than I paid for mine. 

 It's kinda funny if you think about it. Years back everyone carried a camera with the when on vacation. It was a stereotypical accessory for any tourist. The real serious people had a bandolero of film cannisters on their cameras, looked like ammunition! The number of pictures taken was limited by the length of that roll. The average person didn't take pictures of just anything like we do today, I don't have a single photo that my parents took of their supper. Pictures of home are pictures in the background. You know what I mean, the picture itself was usually a person or group of people. Today as we look at those pictures it is the background that is of most interest. Then we got Polaroids. Pictures we could see instantly. Expensive but it was exciting. I have a few pictures taken with a polaroid instant camera but overall, very few survived. Not sure why that is. The digital camera came next, and the floodgates were open. It's all pictures all the time. We take pictures of everything. 

 Now we mostly use our phones to take those pictures. You don't see many people with an actual camera very often. I think we are back to only photographers have cameras. And yes, there is definitely a difference between taking a picture and being a photographer. I can draw a picture but I'm certainly no artist. I've written a few poems but I'm not a poet. Our chances are much better these days though of capturing a good picture because of the sheer volume of photos taken. Remember when you got that roll of film back from the developer and you didn't like half the pictures? I hated that. Today I have literally hundreds of pictures and still only like a few of them. Still, I don't discard the ones I don't like very often, it is hard to hit that delete button. Guess it is a throwback to the old days. Our parents and grandparents didn't throw much away, and we learned that. Well, you never know when you might need that. 

 You know the thing is those cameras in the phones are probably better than the camera I have on a strap. That is as long as it is one of those expensive I-phone type phones. It's my understanding that some are very good indeed. I have noticed that the professionals are still using stand-alone cameras, however, which I assume are far superior to any camera in any phone. Still, I think for the type of pictures I'm taking the difference wouldn't be very noticeable. As I said, I take pictures, I'm not a photographer. I just feel more professional when using a camera. A digital camera to boot! Yes, I have progressed over the years. I did get rid of my 35MM film style camera some time back. I still have a few rolls of that 126 film, you know, the kind that looked like a cassette tape. Well, you never know. I have negatives too! I have a collection of slides as well, from my wife's Uncle George. I did save my Kodak instant camera. Kodak came out with that camera in 1976, the Kodamatic! The company got sued by Polaroid and had to take the thing off the market. You could return it for a refund, but I saved mine because, well, you never know. Might be valuable someday. I don't have any film for it though. And today I just need to check my sd card for sufficient memory. Progress because, you never know.