Pictures from an An Almost Dead Camera April 7

From an Almost-Dead Camera April 9, 2002

I was walking along the concrete boardwalk near New Brighton Beach (in Christchurch) when I turned or bent down, and somehow my digital camera fell out of its (inattentively) unzipped carrybag. Amazingly, not a dent or scratch on it or any other indication of damage. I wouldn't even have to mention my carelessness to Dick, who was otherwise occupied. I'd already ruined one digital camera by dropping it, and had managed to leave this one or it's predecessor behind several times (fortunately managing to recover them eventually), so the less said about cameras the better.

Then I "developed" the photos. Most of them came out two-toned, in silvery greens and purples, like the Kauri tree photo above, though most were duller. A few had some color (maybe those where a flash was used?) but not true color. As they were, most of the photos were utterly useless. But as they say: "if broken the eggs, why not make an omelet?"

Since the photos didn't work as taken, I fiddled with some of the software features on Olympus Camedia and Adobe Photoshop. For example, some photos were edged, others were "over-contrasted." Once I appreciated that the camera had a problem, I took a bunch of photos, not knowing what would work with this "broken" camera or with the special effects that seemed best be suited to the camera's results. After rework, many of the photos I took were still totally worthless. But some were cool. Out of about 200 shots, I ended up with 40 worth keeping.

Here are seven of my favorites omelets. Hope you like them, or at least find them interesting.

(Remember, if you click on an image, it will open full screen.)

Descriptions:

Top left: Huge Kauri Tree. Once abundant in New Zealand, these trees are now rare and protected.

Top right: Motel Room Still Life. This was taken when I was wishfully testing my "image diskette" hoping against hope that the funny pictures I developed were not due to a broken camera.

Middle left: Golden Sky Church. This was done in Photoshop, somehow...

Middle right: Holes. This is a photo of a portion of a sculpture in the Air New Zealand lounge in Auckland.

Center left: Leaves. Simple leaf pictures are wonderful when edged, especially if you adjust the contrast and or color balance.

Lower right: Edged Church, from the NZ Northland. Building images turn out really well using edging. I've produced several of these that I like.

Bottom left: Hot Flowers. This sunflower still life was taken while lunching in Russell, a town in the Bay of Islands. It's been posterized, so it's a bit gaudy, but fun nonetheless.

Eventually, I got the camera fixed, though I did enjoy my omelets.

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