On the modern XA2, and a lake

Yesterday morning I pulled myself out of bed slightly early to get dressed and head to the grocery store to get an errand out of the way. You know, as one does at 7am. I was planning on heading to my grandparent’s house afterward to see them and have breakfast, and as I drove along the lake toward their house I noticed the heavy fog that had settled in to the valley near where they live, and wishing I’d had a camera I thought, “Huh, I haven’t shown them the new Olympus yet.” So I turned around and made the short trip back to the house and grabbed the little Olympus E-PL2, complete with the Olympus 17mm f/2.8 and the optical viewfinder to match.

The complete package. It’s not exactly pocketable but it’s not intrusive either

I wrote a little bit about this camera after taking it on a walk shortly after purchasing it but now having shot with it in a few different forms I think I’ve really come to enjoy it as a kind of modern version of the venerable XA2, shooting it with a 35mm equivalent prime and an optical viewfinder. The 35mm focal length lends itself to a versatile kind of everyday/snapshot feeling, and the optical viewfinder feels more comfortable/intuitive to me than trying to compose on the back of the screen all the time.

Now making the return trip with the camera in hand I decided to park by the lake and wander down the hill to the shore line. I’ve been coming to this lake basically all my life. As kids we’d come down here in the summer to swim, and on a couple occasions me and my grandpa came down here to the boat launch later in the evening to practice casting. We never caught anything, but those memories spent with my grandfather in the twilight of a warm summer evening have quite the staying power.

It’s interesting to think how these places can become such a part of our lives, a geography interwoven in to the fabric of our memories. My wife and I have made memories here now as well, spending time traversing the waters on paddle boards or kayaks. This little lake was 600 miles from where she was born, and is one you’d probably never know about if you weren’t familiar with the area, but now it’s become a part of her life. Ruckus loves to come here too, usually early in the morning before the people show up, to play fetch.

One of the things I’ve always found beautiful about Montana is the way that the land is an integral part of your life here. Growing up in the more urban parts of Washington, the land is there, and there is even a large outdoorsy “culture” but the land feels like an accessory, a hobby, a place you go for recreation before coming back to your all-too-urban existence in the towns and cities. But here the land feels like it plays more than a minor, supporting role in people’s lives. It is intimately wedded to the tapestry of people. Maybe it’s just due to the fact that there’s more of it, more wild places more easily accessible and that they endure, so you can build these lifetimes of memories with a specific place. Whatever the magic is, there’s a lot of beauty in it.

I think these quiet moments in everyday life is where something like the little Olympus camera is a really good tool. Like the Olympus XA lineup that came so long before it, it’s the kind of camera that can be with you anywhere (when you remember to bring it), and can consequently be there to record these small moments, like the beauty of the fog-sealed banks of a little lake on a cool autumn morning on the way to have breakfast with your grandparents. We had biscuits and gravy, by the way. And it was delicious.