Eric is benched again.

Eric on a bench at Rocky Point Park.  Photo by Paul Richards.

As the person behind the camera, it is rarely me having his picture taken.  I have hundreds, if not thousands, of candid shots of my friends and family, but relatively few of yours truly.  I will occasionally get out a tripod and shoot myself (would that be suicide by camera?), but those moments are rare.  The only way I am immortalized digitally usually involves a compatriot using my camera to capture my image.  Fortunately, I have not had any lenses crack or shatter when I become the subject rather than the digital composer.

When out shooting the world around me I will often take only one camera and lens.  As much as I like having all my stuff available to me on demand, the downside is that forty pounds of equipment is a lot to lug around, especially when no sherpas are available.  I would ask my traveling companions to do me the favour, but think my circle of friends would quickly evaporate as a result of the imposition.  And so I bring one simple unit. 

On this day I choose my Panasonic Bridge camera, an FZ2500 which performs modestly well for simple shots.  We found a nice alcove which was perfect for a portrait, and I asked my friend to take a couple of pictures of me.  Perhaps there was something deeper in play than what was superficially visible.  A machiavellian plot began glimmering in my mind - could this be the way to slowly get others to tote my gear?  A simple snap here and there, with an innocent suggestion of keeping the stuff just in case they wanted to capture another shot or two.  A moment becomes a couple of minutes, which turns into an hour, ending with the entire outing where I have a willing volunteer happily carrying my equipment.  Perhaps sherpas are more available than one would think.

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