I was one of the suckers who got caught up in the revolution of digital film. For a while, before digital cameras became mainstream, there was huge excitement around APS film, and I ended up with a Canon Ixus APS camera.
I loved that camera, and I was very proud of the way that the film worked. I could get a contact sheet printed out and select only the photos I wanted printed. It wound itself on and off the spool, so I didn`t have to tinker around with complicated flaps of film. I thought I was terribly clever.
But unfortunately for APS film (and me), it came along about 10 years too late, and after it had been on the market for all of about a year, digital cameras started being made available to the general population at something approaching reasonable prices.
I am convinced that no photograph is good enough to be taken with my lovely new camera.
Georgina Guedes, editor, ITWeb Brainstorm
Nonetheless, I soldiered on with my little Ixus, and even bore the humiliation of having people excitedly ask me if it was a digital camera, Canon having brought out a very similarly styled digital Ixus, to add insult to injury.
Seven years later, the camera still works, and it still takes lovely pictures, but I acknowledged that it was about time to really join the digital revolution, and I bought myself a lovely little digital Ixus.
Strangely, now I am convinced that no photograph is good enough to be taken with my lovely new camera. The nice thing about digital is that you can instantly erase anything that`s not good enough. But at the moment, nothing is cutting it. I have deleted pictures of my boyfriend, cats, dog, house and garden.
But, while I haven`t been able to actually keep any pictures I have taken, I am overwhelmed by the functions that my little camera has. Firstly, it`s tiny. It really is smaller than a pack of cards. Secondly, it takes beautiful quality photographs at 5 megapixels. I can also take video clips, with sound, which will soon have my friends hating me, I`m sure.
It even has an option that enables me to select a colour in a photograph, and leave that bit in colour while the rest of the photograph stays in black and white.
I can`t say that I`ve ever wished for this functionality in the past, but now that I have it, it`s a fantastic thing to play around with. If I ever get round to actually taking a picture, I`m sure it will be great.
I am also dealing with the fact that I think that the camera is too precious to take anywhere, so my potential photography subjects are limited to my boyfriend, my cats, my dog and my house. This weekend, we are going on a hike (and will be rained on from morning 'til night) and I think I might just pull out my old APS camera, rather than risk banging the new one against a rock.
I suspect that I am going to have to do some kind of psychological conditioning to help me to deal with my new and lovely toy. Perhaps I will start by taking it around the block, or to the park where I walk my dog, to break me of this terror.
By doing this, hopefully, I`ll be taking photographs by Christmas.
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