[Paddlewise] The Pros and Cons of being at sea (or elsewhere) with cameras. Who says the pen is mightier than the sword

-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Doug Lloyd

Interesting perspective on cameras:

http://www.wavelengthmagazine.com/2002/as02rainforest.php

" I'd always believed I couldn't draw. Her book taught me a few simple
exercises to get me going...Another technique is to forget about drawing
say, a bear, but to focus on drawing the negative shapes around the bear,
between its legs, and so on..."


Sorry Doug, I've had limited success with this technique. On my last paddle
adventure in the Alaskan wilderness, chastened my digital camera's horrific
carbon foot print, I tried to employ Dan's sketching method to record my
memories. Of course, pad and pencil are no better than a camera to capture
the tantalizing aroma of fresh brewed coffee steaming on the campfire on a
mist shrouded rocky shore. So I turned my attention to the grizzled looking
bear lunging toward my unprotected campsite. Hoping not to miss the moment,
I picked up pad and pencil and tried to focus on the negative shapes
surrounding the galloping bear. As the moment of impact grew closer, I was
having trouble trying to focus on exactly which of the negative shape to
best focus on. The hot breath emanating from around it's flaring nostrils
was too ephemeral for my budding artistic talent to form a coherent shape. I
soon found focus on the increasingly negative space between the razor sharp
claws hurtling toward my head. I grew frustrated that an activity that was
supposed to come naturally with just a few exercises could so easily be
foiled by protruding bone  and the inability to hold on to my pencil due the
copious amounts of blood now running down my arm. Still concerned for the
environment I continued to focus on the negative shapes between its rotting
fangs now filling with bloody hunks of my flesh and hair. My head, wedged
like a vise between my subjects massive jaws, could now only focus on the
humongous ursine uvula rattling in its throat as its roar relieved me of my
last vestiges of consciousness. With one good eye, and now only able to
think with my left brain, I was just able to realize that even water-proof
paper is ruined by unrestrained hemoglobin.

Mark
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