“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 938 (Tuesday) – photo finish

Outside the board meeting.

There was a meeting tonight for a nonprofit board I’m on. The meeting was done by 7:00, which is now the dark of night and afforded the opportunity to wander a couple blocks and spend a few minutes taking phone pictures downtown after dark. I couldn’t remember the last time I did such a thing. 

The meeting was in a building off a large brick courtyard which has an entrance near the canal across the street from the Haffner’s gas station and the kicking donkey sign. Haffner's It Kicks! The same elusive Haffner’s sign that I’ve had zero luck photographing out the car window during the red light that is forever long most of the time and changes in two seconds when I pull out the cell phone camera. Hmmm…. Trying to take photos may be the secret to getting traffic lights to change faster.

Even though the phone has a night photography mode, it’s hard to get night photos. The low light means it takes several seconds for the picture to capture and without a tripod there is risk of camera movement which means blurry photos.

Across a canal, across a street ...
Haffner's - It Kicks!

Being out in the dark of night taking photos brought up memories of past nighttime shoots with a film camera and a tripod. The quality was good, but schlepping the gear was a pain. The cell phone wins for being portable, but would still need a tripod. 

We used to joke around in my old photo group about what is the best camera. I was in the Nikon camp, my photojournalist friends were all in with Canon, and we all dreamed of having the money to buy a Leica, but the real answer to the “best camera” question turns out to be kind of simple. It’s the one you have with you. Lately, mine just happens to be a phone. And it provided a nice finish to the day.