Portland Japanese Garden with a $30 Pocket Camera

At the Portland Japanese Garden yesterday, one of the docents called it "a peak day for the Garden", and she was right. After a couple weeks of rain, the sun came out for most of the day, the light was almost other-worldly for this time of year, and the maples were in full color. A great day for taking photos.

There were a lot of professionals and semi-pros wandering around with their portable studio kits: multiple giant SLR bodies and lenses and tripods jammed into huge armored back packs. Ordinary civilians held humongous handheld entertainment devices ("phones"), often stuck onto hard to avoid bumping into selfie-sticks. A few younger photography enthusiasts sported compact SLRs hanging, Japanese tourist style, from their necks. But hardly any pocket cameras, a category of digital device that seems to be going the way of the dinosaur. Yes, most newer phones are capable of taking stunning and detailed monitor-friendly images, so it's no wonder that small digital cameras are redundant for most people.

My Canon PowerShot 790 IS Digital Elph, which is an oversized name for such a little device, was probably the only older silver bodied camera in all of Portland yesterday. Bought in almost new condition for $30, this old Canon still takes decent images, even after much abuse at my hands. Essentially a disposable camera, if it dropped onto a stone, or fell into a koi pond, I would shed no tears for its passing. Small, lightweight, and able to take good enough photos for an easy to please guy like me, I'm always happy to have it stuck in a pocket when the day calls for a lot of hiking around.

All photos of the Portland Japanese Garden taken with a Canon Elph 790IS, no photoshopping. Click or tap on any picture for a larger, higher def image.