About the Rube

Photographer: Roving Rube

The Rube feels most at home when roving, yet remains nostalgic for everywhere he has been. He cries during the final rainstorm in Bladerunner, where the dying replicant haltingly says: I've seen things you people wouldn't believe ... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion ... I watched sea beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate ... All those moments will be lost in time ... like tears ... in rain.

Many tears might have been saved, if only those replicants had had digital cameras to record their memories, instead of those crummy Polaroids. The Rube too has many times gnashed his teeth, pulled out his hair, and rent his photos upon getting them back from the store, so little did they resemble what he saw when he had pressed the button.

His first digital photo, however, captured details he hadn't even noticed when he took the picture. And because taking thousands (and by now tens of thousands) more didn't cost any more than taking that very first one other than having the patience to sort through them all he could practice, practice, practice before taking that big shot of Carnegie Hall.

Equipment: The Rube's primary digital camera is the Canon EOS 300D (the "Digital Rebel"), with the included kit lens (the EF/S 18 - 55 mm zoom -- you must get this unless you're willing to spend a fortune for wide angle capability).

"This camera is probably the most fundamentally important step for digital SLR's since the introduction of the Nikon D1. It will place digital SLR's into the hands of consumers with a moderate budget ...Especially considering that the Kit price which includes the new EF-S 18 - 55 mm (3x) lens costs just $100 more." (from www.dpreview.com)

He also has acquired an EF 50/1.8 II (exceptional sharpness) and an EF 75-300/4-5.6 USM/IS (amazing telephoto), as recommended in this excellent beginner's guide to Canon lenses by Bob Atkins on www.photo.net.

His other camera is the Canon G5. It is basically a point-and-shoot, yet the interface is simple and convenient enough even for impatient Rubes; all the controls are right where you can get to them without delay.

Other strengths of this camera are a "quick" lens (meaning it gathers enough light to allow a high shutter speed, so that a tripod is usually not needed), the combination of a 5- megapixel image with a 4x zoom lens (that allows much cropping freedom for the web, as well as to see those neat details on the skyscraper tops), and an LCD screen that is good enough to tell if the shot came out right, while you are still on the spot.
And it is light and sturdy enough that the Rube sometimes goes out jogging with it. Indeed, to go anywhere without his camera at this point would be like going out without his wallet.

And his other key bit of equipment is Adobe PhotoShop, the "digital darkroom", wherein he can make his pictures even more like he remembered them then they may have been when he was there.

********

The Rube would like to dedicate his photography to the memory of his Mom, who gave him his name and love of NYC, and a few other things ...

Roving Rube