Going Digital: Even Better Cameras…

(Continued from Going Digital: Better Cameras, Better Photos)

Featured Photo: “St. Olav’s Church and Tallinn Bay, Sunrise” Tallinn, Estonia—2010

With my Canon EOS 10D SLR camera, I continued to take pictures of the boys as they grew…

…while our family trips allowed me to experiment with my new digital camera—taking photos of images that inspired me and sparked my creativity. I was reminded—once again—of my joy and excitement with photography, whether viewing nature’s beauty, close-up among the flowers…

…or in landscapes viewed from afar…

…or in the serenity of waterfalls…

…or focusing on the natural elements, where they converged with civilization.

Other times, I shifted my attention from the natural to the man-made features of what I saw…

…also finding inspiration in cities: whether observing the art in architecture…

…or the juxtaposition of classical and modern structures…

…or buildings that seem to soar, forming the contour of city skylines.

In 2007—in addition to family trips—the chance to travel for work arose, and I took my Canon 10D SLR to St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Oregon, and on international trips to Toronto, Brussels, and Amsterdam. With my 10D—my first digital camera—I continued to capture images that were unique, interesting, unexpected, or beautiful—at least to me.

I still have my Canon EOS 10D SLR digital camera, along with my old Sears AUTO 500 and Canon Elan IIE film cameras. Call me sentimental, or perhaps I just recognized that—as camera technology continued to evolve—there was not a lot of monetary value for those left behind. And so it was, at the end of 2009—after more than six years of faithful service—I replaced my 10D SLR with a vastly improved 7D SLR, which had just been released by Canon.

The technology had advanced by leaps and bounds: the new camera had more features, including twice the number of digital processors for faster imaging, three times the pixels for higher-resolution photographs, and even video recording capability (which I rarely used, since I was firmly rooted in the comfortable world of still-photography).

As with my old Canon 10D, the first photos I took with my new Canon 7D SLR were of the boys, aged nine…

…and seven years old, at the time.

In 2010, my work travel continued, and I took my new Canon 7D digital camera on a trip to Europe, where I had fun taking pictures of church architecture in Stockholm…

…Helsinki…

…and Tallinn, Estonia.

The Featured Photo, “St. Olav’s Church and Tallinn Bay, Sunrise,” was taken with my Canon 7D camera, on that same visit in 2010 to Estonia’s capital—a wonderful city about 50 miles south of Helsinki, separated by the Gulf of Finland. I was staying at the Sokos Hotel Viru…

…and while there, I heard some of the hotel’s interesting history. It seems Wikipedia reports a similar story (paraphrased below):

During the Soviet era, the 23rd floor of the Hotel Viru hosted a radio station, called the KGB radio center. This radio service used to eavesdrop on guests in the hotel: some hotel rooms had concealed espionage devices; some tables in the restaurant had microphones. The KGB left the hotel just before Estonia’s independence, in August 1991, but the secret rooms were not found until 1994. The former radio center is now a museum.

I was never certain whether my room had any spying devices or not—not that I had any secrets to hide. Still, I was in a nice, large room…

…with a wonderful view…

…looking toward St. Olav’s Church (centered in the smaller left window), Tallinn Bay (seen in the larger right window, and reflected in the small oval mirror on the left), and Tallinn’s Old Town. (Apologies…I could not get the exposure right to show the room and the window view in the same photo.)

Despite the comfortable accommodations, I was still suffering from jetlag, so I found myself awake one morning at a ridiculously early hour, just as the sun was beginning to bring new light to the day. I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple of photos, looking out my hotel window, as I watched the purples, pinks, and oranges fade, then brighten to a blue sky with white clouds. I always liked this particular shot, filled with prominent pastel colors, while the dark silhouette of the church, and the light reflected on the distant bay water seem more intimated, than tangible.

My new Canon 7D could take digital pictures that were amazingly crisp, clear, and colorful. And to complement the camera’s technological improvements, I added an optical upgrade: a 17-55mm wide-angle, image-stabilizing, zoom lens with f/2.8 maximum aperture. This new lens performed spectacularly across a wide variety of photo situations, and was especially useful in low-light settings. I could take a picture of the dark interior of the Cathedral nave in Strasbourg, France, exposing the grand pillars, ribs, vaults, and recesses of the galleries, amidst the stained-glass windows…

…or I could photograph the dark exterior of buildings at nighttime, revealing the simple windows, contours, decorations, and dim lighting of the restaurant Le Gruber, not far from the Cathedral Square.

While I was still using my—rather large and heavy—Canon 7D SLR, with its excellent optics and features, I began to recognize the potential benefits of cameras that were smaller, less showy, easier to grab-and-go. So, in 2011, I added a compact Canon digital camera to my collection—the PowerShot S95.

Compared to my 7D, the PowerShot S95 was obviously smaller and lighter. Compared to my 10D—my first digital SLR camera—the PowerShot S95 had an improved image processor and nearly twice the pixels, despite its compact size, giving sharp, high-quality photos. And my little Canon was convenient to carry—kind of a digital throw-back to my old Kodak Pocket 110 instamatic camera from decades before. Easily tucked into a small case that attached to my belt…

…it was my Canon S95 that went with me on my first visit to India, in 2011. While preparing for that trip, I pored over several travel guides, and was particularly struck by an image of Humayun’s Tomb in New Delhi, that was featured on the cover of a DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guidebook.

When I arrived in Delhi, I made it a point to see Humayun’s Tomb, and tried to recreate the picture on that cover.

Unfortunately, the color in my photo was not as vibrant, I think because I was visiting in a different season, at a different time of day, in harsher sunlight. Or perhaps I should have changed some settings on the camera. Maybe I should have done some color editing of my own image. Regardless, it was the subject and the destination that motivated me—inspired me—to take that photo.

For me, digital photography represented both an evolution and a revolution—the perfect integration of technology and creativity. As for digital cameras, the innovations would continue. Then, in 2012, I would discover a very different type of technology, and things would change forever…

(To be continued…)