a camera crisis and a cause for confusion

Last week, I was photographing the dogs as I do every day. We were down at the point; all of us were in the water; I have a little ''dog-walking'' camera, a small Canon SLR, and it serves the purpose admirably, punching much higher than its plastic weight, giving me some remarkably decent-quality images without having to cart my professional equipment around. It's small and light enough that I can even take it for a run, by holding it by the grip and winding the neck strap around my arm a few times. I used it all the way across Canada and back last year, when we drove out to Vancouver Island, and it captured some stunning images through the car windshield.

I like to get about mid-thigh deep in the water then bend from the waist and get the camera almost right down to the water surface to photograph the dogs at their level while they are swimming. If you read this blog, you've seen many of this very sort of pictures. One morning this week, however, the strap let go on one side, and the entire camera tumbled into the lake. And just like that, it was game over for my faithful little companion.

Fortunately, I'd accrued a raft of loyalty points and I was able to ''buy'' an exact replacement for a couple of hundred dollars. 

I posted one of the below pictures of the dogs on facebook, captioning it '' This was the last picture I took before my little Canon took a final, fatal swim in Lake Rosseau". Little did I know that not a lot of people realize that Canon is a camera, and more than a few friends had read it in the sense that my dog, Canon, had drowned or succumbed to algae poisoning. I had to step in and reassure everybody that it was just a camera that had met a sad demise.

The new camera will be treated with a bit more respect, I promise.