Summer

Finally got a new camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS3. It's got a 12x zoom which allows me to get close to free range kids like ours without triggering the dreaded cheesy grin. These shots of the kids hanging out at the skate park illustrate what I'm talking about.




When Colm crashed, I was about twenty feet away. It's a pretty candid shot; one that illustrates the inner conflict inside me between the concerned parent and the amateur documentalist. For the record, Colm was fine; no tears were shed in the creation of this blog post.




Colm's soccer games are another setting where the zoom comes in handy. I leaned against a nearby swing set and got this image. The zoom also works with the video recording function. I've got Colm's first soccer goal, a pretty comical sequence that involves six kids (three on three) clustering around a soccer ball that ricochets randomly about a field, then the stars align, Colm runs over an opponent by accident, then does the same to one of his teammates, then gets tripped and drops, the other five kids suffocate the ball, feet and legs slashing away. As Colm returns to the fray, the ball squirts out in the direction of the goal, Colm puts his foot on it, makes two dribbles and shoots on the run...into the back of the net. I've got the entire sequence in my camera.

Which brings me to downside of my new camera. It is something that took me completely by surprise. I can't move my video images taken in HD format to my laptop. It won't read it. As for the photos, I have to drag them manually to my laptop and it takes so long that it exhausts the battery. Bottom line: I need a computer with USB 2.0 ports to accessorize my camera. When I told the Panasonic support guy on the phone and told him that my laptop, an HP Pavillion, was purchased in 2002, he paused as if incredulous. This summer has seen our VW Westfalia become disabled and seriously out of commision and now our laptop appears to be joining the ranks of the obsolete and nonfunctional things that we own.

Beth and I are going to let the budgetary ramifications of all this percolate for awhile. Meanwhile my happy go lucky photo blogging days have become circumscribed by a technological fence that isn't insurmountable but which is discouraging nonetheless.

I've put a few more photos from the new camera on my photo blog K Sees Stuff (KC's stuff) if you want to see 'em click here.

We're headed to the San Juans in a couple of days. Won't be blogging till we get back. Peace.
K