October 23rd, 2021
Thanks to a generous stimulus check and after much deliberating, I upgraded to a Sony a7 III Mirrorless camera. Purchasing photo equipment is a whole separate tangent that's probably not nearly as interesting to most of you, but to make a long story short, I tried avoiding the pitfall that many photographers make of thinking they can buy their way to better photos. I had been able to make due for years with an older Nikon DSLR and so I was very conservative in selecting a new model. The reality was that no amount of new features would transform me into a professional, and I was confident enough in my skills to know that the only thing that would elevate my work was practice and technique.
I first tested my new Sony camera at Kosta's baptism, but at that point, I was frustrated at my unfamiliarity with the model. I neglected to practice with it before the event, overestimating my skill at learning new equipment. I was frantically searching button layouts online during the ceremony and realizing too late that a RAW image in a newer camera model took up an absurd amount of space on a memory card.
By the time I traveled to Monterey with my friends, I was relatively more comfortable with the Sony. It helped that there was no added pressure of a limited time frame, and I once again sunk into the creative lull I spoke of in Stupid. I photographed occasionally and only at the usual subjects: birds, textures, Sam, etc.
I hadn't visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium in at least 10 years, not since a fifth grade field trip, and shooting inside brought me back to some of my earliest photo memories. I thought of the exhibits that I was shooting now, and how much had changed in that period of time. I stepped into one of the larger rooms with the massive fish tank and the tourists gathered around the manta rays and sharks, and I was reminded of an early shot I was particularly proud of in fifth grade. This time around, I just stood there and looked at the fish, smiling at the memory.
Apart from the aquarium, we traveled along the Asilomar Trail near the Point Pinos Lighthouse, where a staff member and San Jose State alumni regaled extensively on his years at the lighthouse, his interest in photography, and how glued young people were to their phones.
We closed the day relaxing on the shores of Moss Beach as Western Sandpipers darted back and forth along the wet sand, searching for food.