I imagine there might be some scoffing in the other safari vehicles when I pop out of the top of our tricked out safari truck armed with my dark pink iPhone. The folks in the other cars hoist their bazillion meter telephoto camo lenses and surely capture a much higher quality image. I don’t begrudge them their fancy equipment. I admire their technical wizardry and infinite patience and prowess, but I do not have camera envy. I don’t think I will have photo envy either. I came here for the experience, not the perfect photo.
I really don’t think the perfect photo could enrich me as much as just sitting on top of the roof and observing all that this amazing experience affords me to see. I love that I can fit all my necessary day items: sunscreen, iPhone, binoculars, bug spray, an extra epi pen and a lip gloss into one small bag that is easy to grab and go in an instant. It is generally the case that anywhere I go I don’t want to be encumbered by stuff, but particularly here. I want to be nimble and light and ready to go.
While it is true my eyeballs are tired from feeling that they may pop out of my head at any time – the memories I have in my head and heart are all mine to keep and treasure. If I happen upon a quality shot or interesting video – you’ll see it on instagram – probably that night. My iPhone makes it easy to edit and share that same day, so I can be ready to sit back and enjoy tomorrow.
Sidebar: As an insurance policy to my iPhone camera plan, I bought the husband a Canon power shot with a 40x zoom. He has been having a ball zooming in on the animals and has discovered a new hobby.
Great commentary about the photos! Fritz had two “fancy” Nikon cameras 🎥 and extra lenses (one which malfunctioned on the trip) and at the time (1999) I had my pocket camera and was very happy!
NOTe- when we arrived home we used the broken Nikon as target 🎯 practice. At least it was out to good use