Mermaids
Photo of the day #80
August 3, 2015, 10:47 AM
Random photo from my collection.
Okay, so not a real mermaid. If you can see the little dark fin popping up out of the water in the background – it’s either a dolphin or manatee that I caught a glimpse of when I vacationed in Fort Myers with my friend Ashley and her family. We got up close to several manatees while we were on the water.
2013 through 2015 were very photographic years for me. I took my big, clunky Canon Rebel T4i camera with me nearly everywhere, even in a kayak through marshes in Florida. Things are different today. I seldom remember to grab my camera before I head out. Then I drive past something I wish I had a camera to photograph and only have a cell phone camera, which won’t capture it in the same way.
When I do have a camera, I feel awkward that people will find me suspicious with my camera up at my face, pointing it at something. I never had that self-conscious feeling when I was younger. I was more naive, I guess. I don’t think people changed, just my perception of people.
I guess I care more today about confrontation. Especially where I live, people are very protective of their privacy. I’m not trying to get followed home because I made someone angry that I photographed their porch/mailbox/road/silo/cows/shed/etc. But that fear has held me back. Not to always blame everything on the pandemic or politics, but I feel like since 2020, we’ve been shown the worst of people on social media and the news. But I don’t want that fear to dictate how I live. So I’ll make a better effort to at least take my smaller, lightweight Olympus camera with me from now on, which is why I bought it anyway!
[Just wanted to point out how my wireball brain goes from Mermaids to humanity in four paragraphs!]