Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Shooting the Toy Canon, September 2011/2012 - Pt. 2

 

Today is the autumnal equinox, when pagans and scientists are in agreement.



Don't tell either that the world turns just the same, with or without them.



This year on the prairie, the sound of leaves in the breeze already has a brittle edge. Cicadas are intermittent. On overcast days like today, crickets rule.



A decade ago in the northwoods, the autumn season was robust.



Were I born in a different time and had the Toy Canon (or these days just your average phone), I suppose I'd have more snapshots.



But I didn't, so those from the fourteen straight months spent exploring the land I love best are about it.




From here they sure look like good years to me.




My emergency backup ended up a casual pursuit. It was convenient. Near weightless. A simple reflex, not a thought.

Hadn't much considered the results, until now. For sure, I'd never try to get a fine art print from any of these these.

The technical term would be crappy.


 


But fine art printing's no longer at issue. Lucky me, eh?



Time flies.



And with it flows the life giving light.

People say the light is long or short, warm or cold. Almost always it's somewhere between. Occasionally in near perfect light, it's everything at once.

What's not to love about Superior autumn?



For the last few months, the northlands day has steadily shrunk.



Some take autumn for being warm and rich. Nostalgic, even. And they hold the sublime light in their hearts like living, breathing memory.



Transitional light is all that good stuff, sometimes. When not otherwise in your face chilly and blowing low.



Depends on the day.



The Toy Canon's been gone a long time now. I don't mourn its passing.



On the prairie as in the northwoods, countdown to winter solstice began in June. That just means we're about halfway there, pagans and scientists both.



Happy autumnal equinox.


#equinox

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Shooting the Toy Canon, September 2011/2012 - Pt. 1



Despite September having long been a favorite time of year for wandering the northwoods, ten years ago this month when I first set off on the original Odyssey the timing was no more than a happy coincidence.

My job had ended, as scheduled. I was ready. So too, the season.

Hell, could've been stinkin' February and then what, right?



Originally, the gig was intended to run a year and done. Maybe a bit more, if it went really well. There'd be times I'd want to report 'live' from the field. Some form of digitally transferrable capture was a must.

Shopped around for a new style magic wand that if the canoe dumped and it (not me) was lost, it'd prove easy (cheap) to replace.



Settled on the Toy Canon. Plastic body, plastic lens and camera bag equipped with the even then pretty measly 12.2 megapixel captures.

No fool I. Except here we are, a full decade later. Go figure.



Typically, on the Odyssey I carried my Toy Canon most everywhere I went, whenever I did. Just in case.



Took random chances with it that I would never, with my ever-shrinking pile of precious film.





Or simply pressed the shutter idly as I walked. What the hell, pixels were free. There was just to get them off the puny card and onto the laptop for review.



That miserable plastic lens? It was a long(ish) zoom, which reminds me now that for all my solitary wandering, I was rarely if ever alone.




I've been rummaging through the vintage Canon folders recently, another happy accident of timing. Mostly, I'd forgotten. Over fourteen months starting ten years ago now, I got pretty much everything I wanted from the film.




Yet turns out the Toy Canon was handy just the same. At the very least, it was like flexing my fingers between bouts.



And while the old pro in me still understands the basically crappy nature of the product…



…it turns out they hold up fairly well when tossed into ether and the content stashed in those neglected file folders is not inconsiderable.



Especially when it comes to September, which I was once fortunate enough to freely indulge.



#upperpeninsulafall