this isn't the shot of this old ford i meant to take. and it is the shot of this old ford i meant to take. lemme ’splain lucy.
i'd been at fuddrucker's for about half an hour shooting away, by the time i got around to this car. the unseasonably warm (upper 70s) january weather brought out a lot cars for the show. the allotted space was swarming with old cars, muscle cars, a stupid prius, and a couple of other odds and ends.
the sun was just getting ready to set, and the way the light was hitting this car made the flames seem to glow. i set up my tripod, framed the shot, adjusted the white balance, and pressed the shutter release button. instead of click click click, i heard clunk clunk clunk. oh crap. the preview showed black with a smidge of light across the top and bottom of the frame. tried again, only it made a more hideous sound, and now the previews were just black frames.
i turned the camera on and off a couple of times, as this one is a bit flaky anyway — it likes to change f-stops all by itself mid-shot sometimes — hoping to reset it. even tried turning the dial to auto and also program mode, just for jollies. pushed the button again, but this time got a white screen of death, with "camera error" emblazoned across the screen. not good.
quickly whipped out the other camera i use to shoot details and hood ornaments with, and swapped out lenses. then had to adjust all the settings and buttons and whatnot to work with the wide angle lens, watching the light change as i did so. just as i was screwing on the mounting plate for the tripod, i see that the light has gone; the sun has gone down below the buildings behind me. so i lost the shot i wanted, and also got the shot i wanted, sans glowing flames.
don't know why the camera chose that moment to crash. i've only taken more than 30,000 pictures with it since we bought it. it's been to london, d.c., seattle, san fran, san diego, vegas...all the car shows...can't imagine why it would give out (j/k). so i'll have to send it in and hope they can repair it. i hate having to switch out lenses on location, because that only invites dust and crap to fly into the camera and ruin pictures. fortunately, i do have the other one, which while not used as much, has quite a bit of mileage being bounced around in the backpack i roll around with me. i hope it lasts a while, or my little hobby is done for. arrrrgggghhh.
and check out that old 1920 ford thing next to it. wtf?