My Camera and You

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I asked to take a shot of the T-Shirt because it was a special day. She indulged me and 
posed with the whole family. The baby dozed off, so what's new? It's a baby thing.

Bloggers find it difficult to find pics to go with the written word because the world tends to lean towards video. Except for the crescendo of the Niagara Falls, video is moving photos with sound, conversation or action sound like stick fighting.

That’s why I roam, taking pics I could use in future blogs. There are two kinds of reaction: frowning eyebrows and wide smiles complete with a pose. I understand the frowning because some people don’t like strangers taking their photo. What is confusing though, is frowning even when I’m not pointing the camera at anybody. I could be taking pictures of an old railway station that hasn’t had any passengers for the last 10 years.

The wide smiles are always a warm surprise and I got a lot of those during the 2022 Canada Day celebrations. Maybe it was the moment, since it is a day off, from our infighting as immigrant Canadians. Yes indeed. Except for the Cree, Ojibwe and all indigenous people, we all shipped in or flew in from somewhere.

I’m very grateful some people agree to pose for me. It’s not because of who I am. I think it’s inner contentment. They are in a happy place within themselves and share that with me. Subconsciously, they remember that people behind the camera were gatherers of memories, mostly happy memories. That’s why the photographer used to say: “Say cheese.”

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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