brunobaby

They're putting up the big tree in Rockefeller Center, and the little trees on the plaza in front of the building where I work.

This is one of those times I wish I carried around a little digital camera, so that I could do a little photojournalism "as it happens" on my blog. I've been shopping for one, and a subcompact digital with resolution that's good enough for the Web can be had for less than $150.

So it's not the price that's getting in my way. Knowing me as well as I have for lo this half-century, I know that if I do carry a subcompact digital camera ready to whip out and photoblog at a moment's notice, I will say stuff like:

"It's too cold out and I don't want to take off my gloves to get out the camera and work it;"

"Bad people who steal will know that I have a good camera and will pick my pocket;"

"The FBI will think I'm from Al Qaida casing the joint for an attack;"

"What if I take a picture of that house with the interesting roof and whoever lives in the house sues me?"

"What if I use up all the memory in the camera and then I see something really interesting before I can dump the pics onto my computer?"

Therefore, what I will end up taking will be 365 pictures of the cats sleeping, which will look like 365 other pictures of the cats sleeping. Which will be useful if I want to play with iMovie and have a movie entirely comprised of pictures of the cats sleeping.

Of course, one could take all of these things into consideration and take the risk anyway: of cold hands, running from the law, running from assailants and running out of memory. So myself and my Margaret Bourke-White fantasies may be paying a visit to Staples, Best Buy or J&R this weekend.