Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Song Lyric of the Day (Paul Simon, on His Camera Brand—And Mine)


“I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph.”—Paul Simon, “Kodachrome,” from his There Goes Rhymin’ Simon LP (1973)

A little less than two weeks ago, preparing to go on vacation, I bought, with the expert assistance of a friend who’s a talented photographer, a new camera so that I could have a record of my trip, as well as any others I might take in the future.

I ended up purchasing the model in the image accompanying this post: a Nikon Coolpix S3000, even down to the green color. (With me being Irish-American and all, how could I resist that tint?) I wanted something a) digital, b) comparatively inexpensive, and c) most important, as uncomplicated as possible given conditions a) and b).

I can’t say that I’ve become the next Ansel Adams, but I HAVE been assiduously taking as many photos as I had hoped a few weeks ago. In the coming weeks and months, I hope to roll out some of the fruits of my handiwork.

2 comments:

Ken Houghton said...

That was, of course, one of the two lyrics that got the song in trouble; several radio stations refused to play it because they considered it a commercial for Nikon. (Wonder if they would have been fine if it had been Kodak, Polaroid skewing the schema.)

(The other, of course, is that people who only heard the single believe that "When I think back on all I learned in high school/It's a wonder I can think at all" is just a strange couplet, not bowdlerized to nonsense.)

We look forward to your entry into new artistic areas.

MikeT said...

Be careful what you look forward to! Given my distinct lack of talent in this area, it might be frightening indeed!