I was about half a mile from “The Wave” hiking out of Paria Canyon when my right knee buckled for no apparent reason.  I sat down for a few minutes, then pressed onwards.  My pace was about half that of the hike in and I had enough water to make it out with no problem, but I knew from the way my knee was feeling that something was not right and getting worse.  By the time I got to the halfway point, both knees were letting me know that they were not going to be kind to me.  Although I had left “The Wave” in what ordinarily would have been plenty of time to be back to the car by sun down, this time it was about an hour after sunset before I managed to reach my truck.  Such was my introduction to the wonderful world of Arthritis!  Each day has been a battle ever since then.

It has forced me to make sacrifices in my approach to photography.  The first to go were my kayak and canoe which I had used for capturing whitewater action.  It was no longer practical to carry either one and I felt as if that was a change I could deal with, besides with a right shoulder that was getting accustomed to being dislocated at least 2 times a year and a left one that had already been rebuilt, they were becoming a bit of a drag.  My knees demanded more.  I sold my heaviest lens.  That was not enough!  I stopped doing most of the glamor shoots, as the lighting equipment was getting too heavy for me to set up, shoot and take down.  Still my knees were not satisfied!  I stopped carrying prime lenses and reduced the number of zooms.  My knees were still angry with me!  I now use a bag that holds either the camera and a lens or the camera and a flash.  It hasn’t helped reduce the pain.

My battle with Arthritis has been fought using everything I could find that had a greater than 50% chance of providing relief and could back up the claim with actual peer-reviewed science.  I do not like pseudoscience.  I tried some of the “remedies that others swear by, but found them useless at improving my symptoms and a drain on my wallet!  The RICE principle (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) provided the best outcome early on, but due to the nature of the disease it is not as effective these days.  I have used Acetaminophen, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Naproxen Sodium and COX2 Inhibitors over time and found them to be wanting in both actual relief and more irritating to my stomach.  I do exercises to keep my range of motion and try to maintain as much strength as possible.  The only medication that has actually provided relief, although only for a 2 month period at a time, has been Synvisc (Hylan G F 20).  Unfortunately it is only given at 6 month intervals, which means that I get to suffer for 8 months out of the year!  At least with Synvisc, I do not need to take pain medication!  The downside of Synvisc is that each time it has worn off, my knees seem to hurt more than they did the week prior to the injection.

Since photography is the art form I used to use to alleviate stress, I find it very stressful these days when I pick up my camera during the 4 month period of pain I am forced to endure.

Paying someone gets you further ahead than shooting in auto, but you must follow the lessons with lots of shooting on your own to really learn the camera. Reading a manual can teach you lots about the camera, if you can manage to stay awake while reading it. Talking to others with similar cameras, may or may not help you, as most of the people I have encountered do not use the advanced features of their camera. So that leaves playing as the most practical way to learn how to use it.

It is by shooting with your new camera that you become comfortable using it. When you revisit familiar settings, you place yourself in a situation where relaxation makes you more receptive to play than a formal setting. I used to consider the first 10 rolls of film (with digital technology, the first 8 gigs of images) as my way of learning what the camera is able to do. Every shot afterward would be better than the first ones as I could then concentrate on composition and lighting.

Get out and shoot!

1:  If you can control the aperture, try shooting in aperture priority mode.  This allows you to control the depth of field.  A wide open aperture creates a shallow depth of field, which is often used for portraiture.  When only the subject is in focus, it will stand out and be notice better.  A closed down aperture creates a very wide depth of field with as much of the scene as possible kept in focus.  This makes for a better landscape image.

2:  By controlling the shutter speed, you can decide whether to capture single drops of spray from a fountain, or to create a milky texture from the water.  You may be able to stop the action of a race car, or let it blur a bit to indicate a fast object.

3:  In the days of film, ISO was set strictly by the film maker and could be manipulated through processing.  Modern cameras allow you to change the ISO on the fly.  The ISO determines how sensitive the sensor will be to the light hitting it.  A high ISO charges the sensor so that it responds faster and with more intensity and noise than a low ISO at the same light level.  IT is by manipulating the ISO that one can make the adjustments of aperture and speed fall into a range that creates a good image.

4:  White Balance is probably the most misunderstood adjustment modern cameras have.  In short, it adjusts the sensor’s idea of what white looks like.  The human eye can recognize a white object at many different light levels.  The films sensor can not do this.  A bright day with lots of sunshine has a color temperature of close to 5000 degrees kelvin.  An object that looks white in that light will look more yellow-red than white if viewed under tungsten light.  It might also appear a bit green under older style fluorescent lights.  A white balance control enables you to compensate for the lighting conditions at hand.

By taking the time to learn about these controls on your camera, you can start creating better images.