Overloaded Camera Bag Seeks New Gadgets to Play With
In researching a piece for our upcoming Photo Contest issue (the winners of our annual contest will be announced in the Aug. 19 issue), I've come across a zillion and one "I want that" photo gadgets and gizmos. At Photojojo.com, for example, I fell in love with this doohickey, which would solve a common problem: the flash burst on point-and-shoot cameras. When I have my Canon 20D SLR with me, it's no problem, as I have an extra flash. But when the situation is low-light and yet all I have is my point-and-shoot, I hesitate to use the flash because it just ruins the picture, so I don't use it and then the shot is a blurry mess. Now if I had one of these...
Are you a photo minimalist, or have numerous gadgets made their way into your camera bag when you hit the road? Share your favorite photo gadget, from low budget (anyone a fan of the bottle-top attachment that turns a regular water bottle into a monopod?) to high tech.
As a completely unrelated aside... I just came across this story, that apparently panda poop in China is going to be recycled as... souvenirs. Which of course made me think of our Souvenir of the Month contest (go here for details). I'm all for recycling, but taking home a picture frame made of dung just doesn't do it for me; I'd rather remember the panda's less odorific attributes. I wonder if you'd have to report it to customs, too. No, I haven't been on a farm but yes, I have animal dung in my bag.
Oh, and don't forget, we're still looking for nominations for the Washington region's Seven Manmade Wonders. Check
here for details; send your ideas via email to travel@washpost.com, with "Wonders" in the subject field.)
By Anne McDonough |
July 31, 2007; 7:46 AM ET
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Anne McDonough
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Posted by: Ethan | July 31, 2007 10:06 AM
I would love to share a new tool with your readers. BigString is a free email service that allows a user to easily send, recall, erase, self-destruct and modify an email after it has been sent. BigString users have unprecedented control over all of their email, whether they choose to send it through the BigString.com website or even Microsoft Outlook.
It is inevitable. At one point or another in your life, you've sent an email to a colleague, client, family member or significant other that's been highly regrettable. Even before pressing send, you knew it was a bad idea, yet you rolled the dice and clicked anyway, only to cringe at what you wrote later on.
Posted by: Ethan | July 31, 2007 10:06 AM
Apparently my link for the doohickey wasn't working. Let's try this one.
Posted by: Anne McDonough | July 31, 2007 11:26 AM
The Panda souvenirs won't necessarily smell. In Thailand at the Elephant Conservation Center (where they teach the elephants to paint) they use elephant dung to make the paper (as well as the poster tubes used to carry the art home). I have both and neither smells. They were also selling stationary made out of elephant dung - none of which smelled.
They explained what they do with the elephant dung before they make it into stuff but I don't remember the details. Skeeved me out at first but turned out to be a good thing - recycling and a good way for them to make money selling cr*p - literally.
Posted by: Washington, DC | August 1, 2007 11:37 AM
I bet elephant poo has a ton of fibers in it, so once they wash out all the, yknow, pooey bits, I bet it's great for making paper. Pandas, with all that bamboo, they've got to let out an awful lot of roughage on the other end, too. Still...uh, I have no desire to own a piece. (Anyone who knows me who's reading this: ixnay on the panda poop for Christmas.)
Posted by: h3 | August 1, 2007 1:34 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
I would love to share a new tool with your readers. BigString is a free email service that allows a user to easily send, recall, erase, self-destruct and modify an email after it has been sent. BigString users have unprecedented control over all of their email, whether they choose to send it through the BigString.com website or even Microsoft Outlook.
It is inevitable. At one point or another in your life, you've sent an email to a colleague, client, family member or significant other that's been highly regrettable. Even before pressing send, you knew it was a bad idea, yet you rolled the dice and clicked anyway, only to cringe at what you wrote later on.