I took it out of the box slowly. It was as shiny and pretty as I had hoped! Gracie had been letting me borrow her Kodak EasyShare since Christmas. Mine had died a sad digital death in 2009.
I quickly inserted the memory card, attached the strap and popped off the lens cap. And then I began clicking away. I clicked in the backyard, at the park, in stores; I aimed this camera at my family so much they avoided me like a drunken Santa.
But each time I loaded the pictures on my computer they weren’t exactly as I expected them to be. They weren’t horrible, but some were blurry and slightly out of focus.
After 100 shots of mediocrity, I realized (I’m a slow learner) that it wasn’t the camera; it was the person behind the lens. In my excitement I had blown through the owner’s manual in just a few minutes. I didn’t take the time to read about exposure compensation and how to match white balance to the light source; I just wanted the end result to be beautiful.
And it’s not that easy. Whether it’s my relationship with Christ or my role as a wife or a mother, there aren’t shortcuts. It takes time and patience. And it may possibly take something called white balance (I’m still reading the manual).
amanda t dodson 