Nikon F100 Reflection

Nikon F100, Nikkor 28-105 D, Kodak Ultramax 400

One of the great things about being among the few strange people who still like to take pictures using 35mm film is that film cameras are now worth a fraction of what they once were. Ten years ago there is no way I could have afforded a Nikon F100, a camera used by many professionals as a back up to their F5's. What cost around £1200 in 1999 can now be bought in mint condition for under £200! Yes, I could buy a plastic pocket-sized digital camera for that money today - but I chose instead to buy perhaps one of the very best 35mm SLR's ever made. There's no pocket large enough for this beast! It's big, it's metal, it's heavy, it's a serious piece of kit. The autofocus and film advance are scarily quick (it focuses and meters much more quickly and accurately than my D70s) and did I say it is a lot of fun to use?

So I took it with us when we went on a family trip to Cork last weekend. For part of the day we went to Fota wildlife park, which was very quiet on such a cold and overcast day. The above picture I took while we were waiting to get the train back into the city.

Because I have only a flatbed scanner I cannot get the best quality from film negatives. A close inspection will show that the picture is quite grainy and lacking in detail. In other words the reflection is an imperfect one. This reminded me of how each of us are made in God's image and yet oh how so very imperfect we are. We've all met people who seem to radiate God's love ... I think of a Pentecostal Pastor I once knew who seemed to glow with God's love, an incredible man, I think of a Franciscan brother who came to my school and got us cynical teenagers interested in contemplative prayer and I can think of many people, often the quiet ones who inhabit pews Sunday by Sunday who in public are shy but behind closed doors are the real 'prayer warriors' of God's Kingdom.

All of us to a greater or lesser extent reflect God's glory. Every day my prayer is "More of You, less of me." Though I'd be the first to admit that God has His work cut out when it comes to me :-)

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Cor.3:18)