Technology makes photography easier

For years there seemed to always be a 35mm camera with zoom lens hanging from my neck and shoulder. For years where ever I went there was the opportunity to snap a photo, potentially for use in whatever newspaper where I happened to be working.

My then-11-year-old daughter harassed me to no ends when we went to Great Britain in 1987 and I was carrying an old-fashioned, on-the-shoulder camcorder, its suitcase-sized carrying case, a 35mm camera and a camera bag filled with everything one could imagine. She repeatedly told me how much I looked like a tourist .... which is what I was.

I remember shooting so much film that I had to buy a new battery for the camera. In fact, in Wales I had to go to an electrician friend of my wife's family to have him make an electricity converter to charge my camcorder battery. Oddly enough his name was "Bomber" Lancaster, nicknamed for the British World War II bomber.

The converter, which weighed 10-15 pounds was great and is still in my home office closet. It was the best 20 pounds (about $35 I ever spent).

Over the years, the camcorder I use has gotten smaller and the 35mm camera has become a digit camera.

But, this past weekend I tried a new gismo to send digital photos to the newspaper ... my iPhone. As my wife and I cruised the Ohio River on the Belpre Bridge Day event on the Valley Gem, I fired off a few images and e-mailed them to the newspaper, wondering if they would be of sufficient quality to be reproduced.

I was happily surprised when one of the images was used and looked OK, meaning I now can travel nearly anywhere and snap off a couple of frames for the newspaper. All I have to do is be within range of a cell tower or an Internet hot spot.

Technology has come a long way since my first newspaper job carrying a 25-pound flash battery, a 21/4 frame camera and a hand-held flash that seemed to always get in the way.