In praise of a 35mm point and shoot

Last autumn I traveled to and around Jordan, and the pre-travel dithering and debating over which cameras to take resulted in my camera bag for that week housing my Leica Q and a cheap Canon Sureshot 35mm point and shoot camera. 

When I’m shooting digital I usually shoot in full manual, as I like the artistic control that gives me. But when using the Sureshot, all control is taken away, and I found that allowed me to be in, and to capture, the moment with authenticity, atmosphere and speed. 

So when I came to travel to Thailand with my family this summer, there was no question about the Sureshot coming along for the ride. It allowed me to shoot from the hip when traveling by bike; to snap fleeting impressions of Bangkok from the back of a Tuk Tuk; and to photograph in low light, thanks to its built-in flash. A fair few of the resultant images were badly out of focus – you can only push such a basic piece of kit so far (lesson learned!) – but the usable scans have an authenticity, vibrancy and chaos that I feel perfectly captures our Thai adventure.