As a photographer and as an instructor, I’m often asked, “Mike, what is your favorite camera?” My usual response, based on something I heard years ago, is “The one I have in my hand, because that is the one I’m going to use to make the picture.”
This really came home to me last week. I was shopping at the local supermarket, and as I pushed my cart out the front door and into the parking lot, I saw groups of people looking up. I followed their glance, and saw one of the most beautiful and unusual sunsets I’ve ever seen. That’s saying a lot for west Florida, where we get much more than our fair share of nature’s beauty.
But my first thought was, “Grrr! My DSLR and tripod are at home!” After a few moments’ thought, though, I realized that I still had my iPhone 5S with me. I pulled it out and captured this wonderful image. The iPhone 5S takes images at 8 MP in size, so I had plenty of image to work with in Photoshop (although I used a very light touch in editing this image, as it was naturally colorful and dramatic).
It isn’t quite what I would have gotten given my DSLR, tripod, and a scenic location, but it still is an amazing shot of an amazing sunset, and I’m really glad I was able to capture it.
Using my favorite camera, the one I had in my hand at the time.
