Photographic Memories

Packing has always been a daunting task.  Of course there are those people who start laying things aside a month in advance, put all their pairs of shoes in plastic bags to avoid soiling their clothes, and have the unearthly ability to roll their garments in a manner that both conserves space in a suitcase and miraculously prevents wrinkling.  I'm not one of these people...I'm actually rather far from this...

Usually I wait until the night before to start organizing and putting stuff in a suitcase, in which case I wind up forgetting something at home...and, as my luck would have it, it's something important (one time it was underwear...my mom really loved me that Thanksgiving trip when we had to head to the mall on Black Friday...still reminded of that to this day)

But this time is different.  I am thinking ahead!  I am planning!  I am making a list of what to bring!  First thing on the list: underwear, and lots of it.  But item #2, in my opinion, is of equal gravity and importance...a proper camera.  I have a few options to choose from, and all of them bring something different to the table...decisions, decisions!

Option 1: my trusty, handy dandy pocket digital point and shoot.

I suppose this would be the most logical choice...it's portable, highly functional, no assembly required, yada yada yada...but my prints usually come out flat and I find that the flash is very harsh, even on portrait mode.  And what is it about small point and shoots that you can never get the outdoor setting to work correctly?!  On my last trip to England, I literally took 34 pictures of Big Ben to get just one shot that wasn't blurry.  Granted, half my body was hanging outside a cab but still...

Next option is the Nikon D40.  Awesome digital quality with a continuous shot feature that I admittedly abuse, I would surely come home with postcard-worthy pics:

Ain't she a beaut?  I love using this camera, and have a lense for larger distances which would be great for monuments and historical tours, but I'd have to lug my big camera case and go through a bunch of rig-a-ma-roll switching lenses, turning on continuous shoot, what have you.  Basically, I might as well walk around with "tourist" tattooed on my forehead if I have to carry this baby around my neck all day.  And I might take this one with me in addition to my small digital, but would I ever really use it if I had the convenience of the other one?  Knowing me...I might forget I had it with me until the last day...

Then there's film.  Back in the days of photo classes and afternoons spent in dark rooms, I'd awe over the beauty and depth of the whites, grays, and rich blacks that would appear in my developed prints.  Hours later while daydreaming during a much less stimulating class, I'd perch my heavy head on my hands and suddenly get a familiar whiff of the remnants of developer lingering on my fingers.

I would love to be able to fill an album of film prints at the end of my trip,  but it may be more difficult using a film camera as a tourist than as a student.  It would be difficult trying to change a roll of film while walking the streets...there's no doubt in my mind that I would expose a few rolls unintentionally and that could get expensive.  But maybe I'll take this guy with me just in case:

Hey, it make look a bit dated, but the pics always turn out great and the autofocus feature never fails.  This little guy is so tiny I think I will indeed throw it in my suitcase...how much room could it take up?!  Hopefully the rest of my packing won't take this much deliberation!