I Broke My Camera

The triangle is the most stable structure- it’s a basic law addressing the strength of a form.

I was trying to squeeze some extra height out of my tripod by bringing the legs together, which raised the head, but also basically turned it into a monopod with three feet. I was distracted for a moment, and don’t know what happened next, but a crashing sound brought me back into the present. When I turned around, the tripod and camera were flat on the ground. When I powered the camera on, it would shut down after 7-8 seconds.

I take care of my tools, and although I am conscious of the cost to replace this camera, the object itself is not precious-it can be replaced. Every action has consequences, and I can accept the fact that I needed to make this tripod perform in a less than optimum way. I am a bit annoyed that, in the end, I chose a different photograph for my intended purpose, but that happens all the time anyway.

So what now?

Because I carry my camera everywhere, at first I felt the urge to replace it. But then I relaxed, saw this as an opportunity to not shoot for awhile, and put my photo energy to work on a few other projects.

Although I try to keep my photo library organized, bits and pieces get moved around, and duplicates in various file sizes and even formats get stored all over my computer and back up drive. When I need an image, sometimes it is difficult to determine which one is the final version, the one I intend to use, and which ones are just leftovers from the editing process. Here is one image stored in several locations, just on my laptop-

Here are more files of the same image, stored on my external hard drive-

Many of these folders each contain the many of the variations of individual images that are displayed below. they are the same image over and over again, hundreds of them, sometimes saved for only one purpose.

So many files, so little time.

I have developed a method of weeding our all of these duplicates, but it is mind numbing, and I can only clean up three or four at a time during my Friday night Blues show-

https://kcsm.org/jazzprograms/crazybouttheblues.php

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Four Palm Trees

 

Four Palm Trees. Copyright 2014 Jimmy Reina

 

Like I said, I have a thing for Palm Trees.

These buildings are part of the University of California at Berkeley, and these Palm Trees caught my eye every time I drove past them. I love the organic shapes of them against those griddy, rectangles.

By the way, the green griddy patterned building has since been refaced to reflect the bland style of its surroundings.

 

Driving Into the Future.   Copyright 2014  Jimmy Reina

 

I have a thing for Palm Trees.

I was raised in the American Midwest, and Palm Trees just weren’t part of the natural urban   environment of St. Louis, Mo.

The arched, dome topped building is the Emeryville, California Town Hall, built in the late 19th or an early part of the 20th Century. The way that unique, classic building entry is framed by those two beautiful Palms, gave me a kick every time I went by there.

A few years ago, City Hall expanded, adding the modern glass structure (and more Palm Trees).

Every time, I drove by, I thought, the contrast of these two buildings was a picture I wanted to take.

So I did.

Emeryville has a colorful past, and probably a bright future.For most of the 20th Century, it housed slaughterhouses, manufacturing, steel mills and warehouses. There was also a period when it was known for its speakeasies, bordellos and gambling houses. Local legend has it that one of its Mayors conducted most City business from a local saloon, rather than City Hall (how could he not want to spend time in that great building!).

With the American decline in manufacturing, Emeryville looked like ghost town for a few years, but it seems to have turned around in the 1990s as shopping (IKEA), bio-tech (Chiron/Novartis) and other tech concerns moved in (most notably, Pixar).

As I was shooting this photo, a Model T pickup truck rolled through, driving past the “old” Emeryville building, and moving towards the new.

It was just dumb luck that I was standing there with a camera-a happy accident.