camera

Friday Fictioneers — The Greek Restaurant

May 1, 2026Fandango12 Comments

The meat arrived like a ritual, skewers hanging over glowing coals as if time itself had been trapped and roasted.

Daniel stared, phone in hand, unsure whether to document or participate. Around him, conversations rose and fell in unfamiliar rhythms, laughter punctuated by the clink of glasses. Across the table, a woman watched him, amused, as he hesitated.

“It’s better when you stop observing,” she said. He nodded, setting the phone down. The first bite was smoky, rich, undeniable. By the time the coals dimmed, Daniel realized he hadn’t taken a single photo.

And he didn’t regret it at all.

(100 words)

Written for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ Friday Fictioneers prompt. Photo credit: David Stewart.

WDYS — Pictures and Words

June 17, 2025June 17, 2025Fandango12 Comments

The morning light spilled across the wooden table like honey, golden and slow. The camera waited with patient eyes, a leather-wrapped sentinel that had seen a thousand quiet wonders. Beside it lay the journal — weathered, whispered in, its cover etched with the inspiring words of Reverend William Carey, “I’m not afraid of failure; I’m afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter.”

On the first page of the journal Deena had written, “The world is full of shoulds. Don’t wait.” She had written those words in a rush once, the ink bleeding like breathless hope. Every page a shutter click. Every sentence a small rebellion against silence.

Here, stories weren’t written — they were captured. A crumbling wall in Seville, a fisherman’s laugh in Marseille, the hush of snow outside a cabin in Iceland. All there, somewhere between film and memory, bound in leather and longing.

Deena never needed a plan. Just light. Just motion. Just the belief that meaning finds you when you least expect it.

And now, the sun rose again. Another blank page. Another shot waiting to be taken. Capturing the world through pictures and words.

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See prompt. Photo credit: Aaron Burden @ Unsplash.

SoCS — Behind the Camera

February 17, 2024February 17, 2024Fandango7 Comments

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has given us the word “photograph.”

Ever since I can remember, I loved to take photographs. One of the first presents I asked my parent to get me was a camera. I can’t remember what birthday it was for, but my parents gifted me with a Kodiak Brownie Hawkeye camera.

That got me started and I used to take that camera around with me taking all kinds of photos. Of course, I had to limit my use of the camera because I had to use my own money from allowances and my paper route and odd jobs like shoveling snow, raking leaves, and cutting grass around the neighborhood to pay for film and processing.

When I got older and had a little more discretionary income, I bought myself a Kodak Instamatic camera.

At some point along the way I bought a Polaroid instant camera.

And ultimately graduated to 35mm cameras.

I was excited when digital photography became a thing and I invested in several digital cameras.

But then, when BlackBerry added a camera functionality at around the same time as Apple introduced its iPhone, I discovered I could take digital photos on my handheld devices.

I pretty much retired my digital cameras and used my handheld devices for all my photos. These days, the cameras in my iPhone 15 Pro Max come close to rivaling those from many single-purpose digital cameras.

Between physical photos and digital photos taken over the years, I must have more than 30,000. Of those, I am in an extremely small percentage of them. Because I’m almost always the man behind the camera rather than the man in front of it.

Cellpic Sunday — 09/24/23

September 24, 2023September 24, 2023Fandango11 Comments

John Steiner, the blogger behind Journeys With Johnbo, has this prompt he calls Cellpic Sunday in which he asks us to post a photo that was taken with a cellphone, tablet, or another mobile device.

I realized this evening that I hadn’t posted anything yet for today’s Cellpic Sunday post, so after I finished eating dinner, I went out to my backyard and saw the moon in the southern sky and took this photo.

It’s so rare for me to be able to get a decent photo of the moon with my iPhone 12 Pro Max that captures any detail of the moon’s surface. Most of the time it’s just a white blob. But I suppose because it wasn’t yet dark at 6:40 pm, the contrast between a bright moon and a dark sky wasn’t there yet, so the moon’s features were captured.

Here’s a digital zoom that shows the moon in even more detail.

I’m debating whether or not to trade in my three year old iPhone 12 Pro Max model on a new iPhone 15 Pro Max. From what I’ve read, the latest iPhone has made some significant upgrades to its cameras. Given that the only camera that I own is the one that is in my iPhone, there’s a temptation. On the other hand, it’s hard to justify spending the money on the new model when the one I’ve got is working just fine. But the cameras….

If you wish to participate in this fun cellphone photo prompt, please click on the link to John’s post at the top of my post to see his photo and to read his instructions.

Four Line Fiction — Photo Op

March 8, 2023March 8, 2023Fandango8 Comments

It’s her first time in New York City
A little snow won’t deter her
She takes her camera to Central Park
Where the photo opportunities are endless

Written for Greg’s Four Line Fiction prompt. Photo credit: Mehrab Sium via Unsplash.

SoCS — Let It Ring

September 17, 2022September 17, 2022Fandango15 Comments

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has given us the word “ring.”

My post today in response to Linda’s prompt is not a piece of flash fiction or an opinion piece. It’s a true stream of conscious post about a few different rings: a camera, a phone call, a piece of jewelry, a fantasy trilogy, tinnitus, and a song. The only item in common is the word “ring.” So let us begin.

I have a Ring camera, like the one pictured above, mounted on my garage. it allows me to capture video images on my iPhone of my driveway and a portion of my front yard (see below).

I also have a doorbell camera, but it’s a Nest camera, not a Ring camera. Between the Ring and Nest cameras, I can see anything going on around my house and capture videos of any activity.

Phone

My iPhone displays the phone number of every caller, and if it’s a number I don’t recognize, I let it ring. I figure that if it’s a legit call from someone I know, but whose number I don’t immediately recognize, the caller will leave a voicemail message. Do you also do that?

Jewelry

When it comes to jewelry, the only ring I wear is my wedding band. I’m not one to adorn myself with metal, like nose rings or earrings, or any other kinds of rings other than my aforementioned wedding ring.

Trilogy

Back when I was in college, I was really into Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. I had a map of Middle Earth on my wall above my bed. So yeah, I was a bit of a nerd.

Tinnitus

No post about the word ring would be complete if if didn’t touch upon the constant ringing I experience in both ears, which condition goes by the name tinnitus. There’s no known cure for tinnitus and no specific cause for the ringing sound that only I can hear, although I believe it might be due to having attended so many loud rock concerts in my twenties and thirties. When I asked a doctor many years ago what could be done about the ringing in my ears, his response was, “Learn to live with it.” Thanks for nothing, Doc.

Song

Do you remember Gary Lewis and the Playboys 1965 song, “This Diamond Ring”? Well, let me refresh your memory.

By the way, in case, when you watched this video, you didn’t notice a resemblance, Gary Lewis is the son of the late comedian and actor Jerry Lewis. Are you old enough so that name rings a bell for you?

What Do You See? — Always Smile

June 2, 2020June 2, 2020Fandango20 Comments

74491B82-B995-4AD6-B725-7AB6D913CDEA He placed her old, yellowing map on the kitchen island counter and spread it out. He put her camera and camera bag on one side of the brittle map to keep it from curling up on itself. Then he placed three of the photos she had kept with the map and camera. One of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. One of the Colosseum in Rome. One of a unnamed boulevard in New York City.

Each photo was taken by her best friend, Pony Brown, who was a world traveler and who, from the cities she visited, would mail to his mom picture postcard-like photographs, most with “always smile, Pony Brown” printed on the white border at the bottom.

His mother confessed that her bucket list was to visit some of the places Pony had been to, with Paris, Rome, and New York at the top of the list. She joked that she planned to take her camera and visit these three cities “if I don’t kick the bucket first.”

Sadly, she did kick the bucket before she had a chance to fulfill her dream. On her death bed, she whispered in her son’s ear, “Take my camera and go to Paris, Rome, and New York. Take pictures like these. Do what I was unable to do. I will be there with you, my darling little boy. I will experience my adventure through your eyes and your heart. I want us both to always smile. For eternity.”

And then she drew her final breath.

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See? photo prompt. Photo credit: DariuszSankowski at Pixabay.com.

Fandango’s Friday Flashback — November 29

November 29, 2019November 27, 2019FandangoLeave a comment

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of you earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember?

Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Friday Flashback post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 29th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on November 29, 2017. It was in response to one of Bikurgurl’s 100 Word Wednesday prompts.

Duck Face

C5A749DA-2433-4ACD-9FC1-D3B5553D58FD Looking at the map, David was trying to figure out how to get to the museum. “I think it’s just a few blocks from here,” he said to his wife. Not hearing a response, he turned around and saw that she was taking yet another selfie, with that ridiculous duck face expression.

“How many of those stupid, pouty selfies are you going to take on this trip?” David asked her.

“I want all of my Facebook friends to see how much fun we’re having,” she said.

David sighed. “Then you should try aiming the camera at something other than yourself.”

Image credit: Bikurgurl.

FOWC with Fandango — Camera

December 12, 2018December 7, 2018FandangoLeave a comment

FOWC Welcome to December 12, 2018 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “camera.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.