Today I joined my wife, my mother-in-law and her sister for a full day of thrift store shopping. I’m not much of a shopper but I do enjoy thrift store shopping for the photography aspect of it. Anyone how has seen any of my other posts, knows that I tend to photograph a lot of still life and random objects. I always challenge myself to make the ordinary look interesting.
If I’m being honest, the hardest part for me with a day like this, is settling on a camera. I have too many cameras. I’d like to think if I wasn’t a ‘professional’ I would just have one camera, but that is probably a lie. I decided to go with the Canon EOS M, paired with the amazing 22mm lens. The original M, is slow to focus by today’s standards, but fast enough for me. It has no articulating screen like my Canon R for example, but who cares. It just means I have to bend more. But what it lacks in those things it makes up for in image quality, size and just overall enjoyment. Out of all the cameras I own (which actually aren’t that many), the Canon M is one of my favourites for the look of the files. There is just something about the files.
One of the things I like most about the 22mm lens is the ‘macro’ ability. It’s not a true macro lens, but you can get pretty darn close, which I love doing. I tend to almost make a lot of abstract compositions with everyday things. The close focusing of that lens allows me to do that. Plus it’s a 35mm field of view which is my second favourite, next to 50mm.
Throughout the day, I simply captured things that caught my eye. With thrift store shopping, there are a lot of things to photograph, so I made sure I was still selective. We also had breakfast in the morning and a snack in the afternoon. I also walked outside around the block to pass the time while at one location. Overall, it was such a fun spontaneous day of shooting for me.
For anyone out there struggling to find inspiration for photograph or even just the motivation to get out and do it, I encourage you to head down to your local thrift store. Plus, I managed to pick up an old Kodak digital camera for $3.99. It is so old that I had to find one of my old 2 gig memory cards. Newer ones don’t work with it.
Thanks for stopping by. Comments are always welcome, assuming anyone actually reads these posts. Happy shooting!
