Photo Finish

Story Sent in by Charles:

I'm a wedding photographer and when Shannon found that out, she asked me if I'd show her some photography tricks of the trade. I thought it would be a nice first date to take her out and do some nature photography, so we planned for that. I told her to bring her camera (any model that took photos would do) and we met at a park.

I brought my Canon. She brought a bright plastic my-first-toy-camera thing that you could pick up for $10 at any toy store. And it didn't take photos. "This was the best I could find with the time I had," she explained.

I thought she was kidding, and so I resolved to show her various photography lessons on my camera. At first she seemed okay with it, but then she tinkered more and more with her toy camera.

"Where are those settings on mine?" she actually asked at one point, after I had shown her how to adjust the aperture on mine.

Still thinking she was carrying the joke, I told her, "I'm not sure if that model has an aperture."

"Why wouldn't it?" she asked, studying her toy like it was a lover's portrait.

I said, "Why don't you try a few test shots on mine?"

"I don't want to. I bought this one to do it."

"But that one's a toy."

"But I just bought it. It was all I could afford. Are you telling me I'm poor?"

She then shouted an expletive before I could confirm or deny the accusation and stormed back to her car. I didn't try to stop her and she drove away. As for me, I spent an hour or so catching some great bird photos before I left.