Confidence will take you a long way

My six-year-old granddaughter took this picture for me. Thanks, Fiona.

Recently I received an LCBO gift card from a close friend. The LCBO is the government run liquor and beer store chain in Ontario for those who don't know. My friend suggested I take the card and buy three inexpensive but enjoyable wines. It was a good suggestion and I took it.

I wanted to send my friend a picture of me with my purchases but the only person handy to take the picture was my granddaughter who is six. When I told her what I wanted she smiled knowingly: "You have to use me. I'm the only person here." She was right.

Was I concerned? Not really. I've been letting Fiona use my little point and shoot, a Canon PowerShot S90, since she was two. The kid isn't perfect but she has confidence. I knew her confidence might carry the day and it did.

She took a picture, checked it on the monitor and ordered me to take another pose. She took shot after shot until she was satisfied. I don't think I smiled enough for her liking but she knew my poses were not going to get much better.

She also had an opinion on the wines. She feared the one with a "smelly" foot on the label might be a poor choice. Later, I discovered she might be right. Her mother, a wine consultant, agreed it might have been a poor choice: too sweet.

The point of all this is to have confidence when taking pictures. Shoot a lot and don't let anyone or anything dissuade you from taking another picture if you think you should. Keep plugging away and you'll walk away a winner.

Good pictures are rarely taken by the timid and certainly not by timid six-year-olds.