Digital technology delivers both joy and frustration. The frustration comes from the built in obsolescence which results in your computer, phone or tablet becoming useless well before you feel that you have extracted full value for money. The joy comes from the ability to create things that were unimaginable not that long ago, especially photography.
The digital camera has given us the ability to capture multiple images of the same subject and discard all but the best, usually while you are still on location. When we were limited to film, this approach was impractical and shooting in hope was prohibitively expensive.
My collection of images reflects this transition. Pre 2005 (when I acquired my first digital camera) the rather paltry collection of photos are stored in a few albums and shoe boxes and the quality is steadily deteriorating. I have digitalised the ones where the quality was still ok. Post 2005 the 27,000 images that I have snapped are accessible by year, location and, where I have bothered, by album. I can even create hard copy albums to display on the coffee table.
That collection also shows how my skills have changed over the years. In the early years it was pretty much ‘point and shoot’ whereas in later years I have experimented with manual settings and now largely shoot using those.
The purchase of that first digital camera (a Fujifilm Finepix) also coincided with our decision to take a more adventurous course for the remainder of our lives and this series of posts is a reflection of both that digital and personal journey.
2005 – 2008
The first outing for the new camera late 2005 – a Pukeko snapped amongst some disinterested sheep.My early efforts were very local, like in my sisters garden in this case.An overnight shower made some interesting effects.Our first voyage on Agnes and our first voyage in the ocean. Ruth was relieved that we had made it to Kawau Island just north of Auckland. But it had not been without it’s mishaps, a Titanic styled mistake almost resulted in a rock v boat encounter and then the first anchoring resulted in the anchor not responding to the ‘stop’ button. We found out what “the bitter end” was.Another island visited during our delivery voyage – it was late autumn and we were the only ‘sailors’ silly enough to be cruising.The boat tended to feature in many of the images captured during these early digital photography years.Ruth waits patiently for the skipper to row her ashore – this was during our first extended cruise in 2007.Sheltering from the gales in Mimiwhangata Bay on way home – the location was perfect for waiting out a storm. Plenty of walks around deserted reserve land.The photographer in action – this time we exchanged digital photos with another vessel – cruising home during our 2007 adventure.Ruth surveys another Bay, this time on the Coromandel during an Easter cruise in 2007ReflectionsA change of camera in 2008 – one of the first photos on my Sony DSLR was of the Fluttering Shearwater trying to get airborne. We would pass through massive flocks of these birds during the summer.
An early morning departure for our open water crossing to Great Barrier Island – little Barrier Island can be seen in the distance, Great Barrier is still below the horizon.Ruth ‘enjoys’ one of her first of many hikes – this time on ‘The Barrier’, rain eventually forced us to abandon this walk.Evenings were always a great time when cruising, you got to enjoy the last light of the day, something we tend to miss when in our homes.The laundry at Smokehouse Bay on Great Barrier Island. It was ancient but after several weeks out in the Ocean it was magic to be able to wash the clothes.
There are several options depending upon gear and the desired quality of the finished project. Where I want a high resolution finish I use my printer/scanner.If you have negatives or slides you can often get an adapter to enable you to convert these to photos when you scan them. The process is slow but the results are good. However, with most of the photos it is more an issue of preserving the memory rather than needing a high resolution. Ruth wanted to convert one of her old hard copy so I downloaded the Photomyne App onto her iPhone 6+. It worked a treat, was quick, the results were good enough for printing and it was quick. Once you have them digitalised you can restore aspects such as colour degradation and of course crop them into a better image. The quick and nasty approach is to simply take a photo of the photo using your phone.The results are not always great but sometime if you simply want to share an old photo with someone it is a quick way of doing that.
The Angel Tandem - Adventures on the wrong side of 60 
How did you digitize the older photos? I hadn’t thought of doing that but now am intrigued with possibility…
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There are several options depending upon gear and the desired quality of the finished project. Where I want a high resolution finish I use my printer/scanner.If you have negatives or slides you can often get an adapter to enable you to convert these to photos when you scan them. The process is slow but the results are good. However, with most of the photos it is more an issue of preserving the memory rather than needing a high resolution. Ruth wanted to convert one of her old hard copy so I downloaded the Photomyne App onto her iPhone 6+. It worked a treat, was quick, the results were good enough for printing and it was quick. Once you have them digitalised you can restore aspects such as colour degradation and of course crop them into a better image. The quick and nasty approach is to simply take a photo of the photo using your phone.The results are not always great but sometime if you simply want to share an old photo with someone it is a quick way of doing that.
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