My second compact

Way back in April last year, in the early days of simonbills.com, I decided to post an entry detailing how I got into photography and some of my early photos, check it out here if you like.

At the end of that post I promised "for the next instalment of my photographic odyssey you'll see what results a hefty 4mp Canon point and shoot can deliver" - this was because my first camera, a 3mp Pentax, was stolen by Argentinian banditos 6 months after purchase. So here it is, my favourite shots on my favourite ever point and shoot camera (I've had 4 now), the mighty Canon Powershot S400.

Like all good stories this one is a mixture of tragedy and comedy. The story starts in Miami with the purchase of the camera on what turned out to be quite a traumatic day (mainly due to a run in with a local shop keep which resulted in him labelling me a "f*cking c*cksucker" as I walked out of his shop). The story ends in tragedy with many of the photos taken on this little gem being lost for good in the great hard drive crash of 2007. I'm sure I have many of the photos backed up on CDs on the other side of the world, but that's not useful for updating a blog on a sunny Sunday afternoon in London. Fortunately I was able to dig up my photos from 2 weeks in the USA which I'll share with you now.

This first shot was of Miami beach and was one of the first shots I took my with my new baby. The default colours on this camera were more saturated than on my previous machine, and the screen was nicer too so I was thrilled to see the vibrant blues on this shot.



About a week later I'd moved on from Miami to Vegas, met some strangers at a hostel and embarked on a 4 day road trip with them to see Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, some National Monuments in Utah and Zion National Park. The initial plan was for just an overnight trip, so we left all our clothes and bags in Vegas, but adventure got on the way so we ran with it.

This is probably my favourite photo taken by my little 4mp Canon, and disappointingly it wasn't even me that took it. This shots sums up what travel is all about for me, the open road, vast space, blue skies, bare feet and no particular agenda. It also highlights the beauty of photography, the fact that my favourite shot was taken by someone sticking their hand out the window of a moving van and snapping randomly - what other art form can you create something so beautiful completely by accident?



No chit chat for this one, just a photo I like.



And finally a shot from Zion National Park. I remember at the time walking along and spotting the bridge in the distance, I figured the shot really needed people crossing the bridge to make it interesting so I hung back and waited for my crew to make the crossing.



It's interesting that 5 1/2 years ago, before I even knew I really liked taking photos, that I was creating scenes and making photos rather than just taking them. Looking back over these old shots there's certainly a fair few duds, and shots I would take totally differently now, but there are still a few gems in there where I did all the right things even if I didn't know I was doing them.