The Swan Whisperer II

It's been two weeks now since Derek loaned me his Olympus E-510, and I must say I found it much less difficult to use than I'd been expecting. My main doubt had been about how comfortable (or not) using an SLR would be for me as a glasses wearer. In actual fact that aspect turned out to be far less of a problem than I'd feared. Okay, my unused eye did feel a bit weary after the first couple of photo sessions, but I managed to fire off about 150 shots in Stephen's Green today without any feeling of discomfort afterwards.

All in all, the experience has proved to be a fascinating one, and I could well be tempted to do something about a DSLR some time soon. I do think that I'd like to also have a digital compact handy, mainly for those situation when through-the-viewfinder is too limiting compared with the reliance on the display screen which I'm used to.

Anyway, I'd arranged to meet one of the Music Group guys for a chat in the Shelbourne hotel and was early getting in to town, which is how I ended up in Stephen's Green with the camera. I've blipped this guy before (see the original Swan Whisperer), and he was at it again today, attracting not only my lens but many others as well. Knowing that this was to be the last day with the Olympus, I'd sort of thought of something to do with 'swan song', and did consider this as today's blip but rejected it on the grounds that it was just a bit too obvious. There were others as well which took my fancy (best seen using the slideshow option in that gallery), but the Swan Whisperer and his trusty friends won out in the end.

I had a bite to eat in Pasta Fresca in Chatham Street (acceptable, but made a bit pricey by the 6 euro 95 they charged for quite a small glass of wine), bought myself a new book (more about that another day) and the Rough Guide to Languedoc & Roussillon for the holiday, came home, and brought the camera back to Derek mid evening. We had a good old chat and some gorgeous coffee. A nice end to a good day.

Thanks again, Derek for your kindness allowing me to play with the Olympus for the past two weeks.

p.s. It was only after uploading and writing the commentary that I spotted the coincidence of the Year Ago thumbnail. How weird is that?