A Beautiful Neighborhood

Last night just before sunset, I wandered the few hundred yards to the Albertson's to pick up some food for dinner.

A bit dazed still from the day's events, I took my time noticing the sky as the sun was setting. Since the day was humid (it reminded me of those late June and July monsoon days in AZ) you could get a sense that there was going to be a great sunset. I shot a few images of the strong light hitting a business sign and the sky above it and then went about shopping...coming out about 10 minutes later, the sky had begun to start getting good.

The past few days I have been traveling with a little Canon point and shoot that literally slips in my cargo pocket. It's such an odd sensation given that for so many years the notion of taking photos meant doing it in such a public way -- one or two cameras hanging off my shoulders, large lenses letting everyone know, yep that's a professional photographer.

But traveling with a little point and shoot is liberating in so many ways. Shooting it makes me look and even feel a bit more like the amateur that I really am (but it never hurts to be reminded). I was opposed to using the viewscreen on the back, fearing it made me look like everyone else with a point and shoot. Well, it does and that's not so bad.

I can take photos and people don't really give me much of a thought because I'm just some guy with a point and shoot camera.

In the 30s, 35mm cameras probably were viewed with the same disdain by "the pros" using their 4 x 5 Speed Graphics or other larger format cameras that I have shown for the lowly point and shoot, but that didn't stop some of the great photo icons of that day like Henri Cartier-Bresson especially from making photos that live even today.

A good friend of mine, Vince Musi, made the observation that he thought the digital point and shoots were the Leicas of our generation and they certainly haven't stopped great photographers from making great photographs (check out some of Alex Majoli's work also on the magnum.com site -- fine work and most of it shot recently with an Olympus point and shoot).

But the ease and simplicity of this little camera helped me to capture two of the beautiful things I saw yesterday my daughter Kate, sitting contentedly in her car sit by the front window or the sky at sunset even if my little walk about made our dinner a bit late and made Nicki wonder just where was I??