We’ve all become accustomed to having a phone within easy reach. We snap a picture of anything (and everything) with the camera attached to the mobile phone in our pockets, relying on the computational photography computers in our hands - computers that are more powerful than the systems that took man to the moon. We post those pictures quickly and easily, using whatever filters the online computers have to share with the world. Easy peasy.

I, too, have become used to the ease and convenience of my iPhone as my primary camera. But I decided to challenge my creativity this weekend. I dug out my old school DSLR - a 12 megapixel Nikon D300, attached a 50mm 1:1.4G prime lens (a quality lens with no zoom features), put my camera in black and white shooting mode, and went for a walk along my town’s Main Street - a quaint and characterful short street that was, and likely still is, the focal point of our small town. I shot some interesting-to-me views. Imperfect, as they came from the camera. With little to no editing - no cropping, no major corrections, just adding a little vignetting, which is a favourite presentation feature of my photography style.

Some things I noticed - I had to move to get the shot I wanted. The convenience of zoom lenses is easily taken for granted. Composition is everything, and it's even more difficult with a real camera that will not be edited. I also attracted a significant number of comments from passers-by, and even from those in vehicles. While my camera setup is not particularly large or intimidating, looking through a viewfinder, rather than at a screen, attracts attention and must be a bit of a novelty. People were very friendly about the camera, though I was making an effort not to include people in my pictures.