"A son's your son 'til he takes a wife, but a daughter's your daughter for the rest of your life". My mother recited this saying often enough in my hearing for me to get the message, loud and clear: it's OK to cut your moorings and join another family circle (if you're a boy). Just send us a postcard.
That's pretty much how it's worked out, too. You know when you're a bit of a stranger in your own family when you discover, at your mother's funeral, that you have an extra cousin you had either forgotten or never known about. Well, hello, there! The simple fact is they're not really my tribe any more.
By contrast, I have been assimilated into my partner's tribe. She has two sisters (both of whom, curiously, have also paired up with guys called Mike --I sometimes wonder whether there's some obscure family joke being perpetrated here) and we generally meet up en famille around Christmas time for a ritual exchange of presents. It used to be at the picturesque cottage where two of their aunts lived, but now they've both died we've started meeting up in an olde tea shoppe, dominating the place with our table for twelve and loud voices.
On the way over, I realised I'd forgotten to bring a camera. Then I remembered I had my loaner iPhone in my coat pocket, so decided to give it a try. I must admit, I felt a bit of a fool, fumbling with a fancy phone in an unfamiliar mode, though it turned out half the table were iPhone aficionados. "Is Siri male or female?" they kept asking, to my profound confusion, not least because we'd only just pulled some crackers and read out the jokes (best one: "Q: What does an auctioneer need to know? A: Lots!").
Looking at the results, I must say I wonder at the standards of those people who say "My iPhone 4s is now my main take-everywhere camera!" I mean, they're OK for a phone, but I'd be seriously considering getting another camera.
That's pretty much how it's worked out, too. You know when you're a bit of a stranger in your own family when you discover, at your mother's funeral, that you have an extra cousin you had either forgotten or never known about. Well, hello, there! The simple fact is they're not really my tribe any more.
By contrast, I have been assimilated into my partner's tribe. She has two sisters (both of whom, curiously, have also paired up with guys called Mike --I sometimes wonder whether there's some obscure family joke being perpetrated here) and we generally meet up en famille around Christmas time for a ritual exchange of presents. It used to be at the picturesque cottage where two of their aunts lived, but now they've both died we've started meeting up in an olde tea shoppe, dominating the place with our table for twelve and loud voices.
On the way over, I realised I'd forgotten to bring a camera. Then I remembered I had my loaner iPhone in my coat pocket, so decided to give it a try. I must admit, I felt a bit of a fool, fumbling with a fancy phone in an unfamiliar mode, though it turned out half the table were iPhone aficionados. "Is Siri male or female?" they kept asking, to my profound confusion, not least because we'd only just pulled some crackers and read out the jokes (best one: "Q: What does an auctioneer need to know? A: Lots!").
Looking at the results, I must say I wonder at the standards of those people who say "My iPhone 4s is now my main take-everywhere camera!" I mean, they're OK for a phone, but I'd be seriously considering getting another camera.
Is this thing on? Ah, wrong camera...
Silly old fool, he's half deaf as well, you know...
Still, I will try it again before I have to give it back to the quartermaster's stores. Preferably when I haven't got a raucous table of merrymakers trying to put me off my game...
5 comments:
Nice to hear a bit of sense to combat all the iPhone camera waffle. I have and use one but its far from being a serious photo tool. While the old saw about the best camera being the one you have with you is only true if it IS the only camera you have with you.
Be all that as it may, the concept of editing photos on a phone just passes me by. I've been seduced into buying the odd camera app but only ever played with them once or twice.
Mike,
Happy Holidays! Thanks for the card!
This might help as I know you like square format, a camera App called
6x6; you see and save, in square. Pretty well done for around a dollar.
As to iphoneography, I don't think it will diminish anybodies "street cred" if they use an iPhone, nor does it mean you can't use a real camera, should one be so moved. Besides, the little dog, when walking me, doesn't like it when I take to long shooting; phone is fast and easy, nothing to set.
Bron
I guess indoors on a dim afternoon under artificial lighting is not a fair test of any camera -- if it ever stops raining, I may take it out and do some side-by-side comparisons.
The worst thing is holding it, though -- it's so sleek yet weighty that it's endlessly sliding out of my fingers. Time someone designed a phone with a good solid handle sticking out the side, like a tea mug!
It's interesting how far it's really the apps that turn people on, though. I've been playing today with one called Plastic Bullet, and I can see the attraction. It's harmless fun. But I can't really imagine putting any of the end results out in public -- they're not really "earned" (I'm such a puritan...) and it's a bit too much like using the "artistic" filters in Photoshop Elements and thinking you've acquired watercolour painting skills!
Mike
I'll be extremely careful when attempting to use the camera on my shiny new Samsung Galaxy. Happy New Year, Mike.
And to you Martin. I believe Samsung actually make those lovely iPhone screens, so you may have the best of both worlds there. Watch out for those Android apps, though -- some are very dodgy indeed!
Mike
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