I recieve a stipend for one of the committees I am on at school. Usually this money comes in summer time, and promptly disappears. This year, I decided to invest in a hobby. I thought long and hard about it, because I am a little bit good at a lot of things, and I am pretty notorious for not staying with any one thing for very long. For a while it was going to be mosaics, then it was going to be cake decorating, then it was going to be... and then... and then... I really wanted to find something that would hold my interest, and be something that I could develop into another skill.
I had been thinking for a while about buying a "real" camera, as in not a regular point and shoot. As in, you have to know what exposure, aperture and lense size means. As in, a camera that is more expensive than your usual camera, but one that will last a long time, and will take amazing pictures.
I thought about it some more, and realized that I have always loved having a camera, and taking pictures. I got my first camera when I was in 5th grade (one of those long, rectangle shaped ones that takes the wierd shaped film) and took it with me everywhere. I was the first person in our family to buy a digital camera right before I went to England (a whole stinking FLOPPY DISK could fit into the camera!) and enjoyed being able to journal my experiences and email them home. My current digital camera has served me well, and I have developed (pardon the pun) into a frequent downloader and organizer of pictures. I have been known to say that my kids (future, eventual as they may be...) will end up with an external hard drive of their lives by month rather than a scrap book. I have somehow managed to keep this blog up for more than a year, and feel that this will be another form of documenting our lives for posterity.
As I thought about these things, I realized that a fancy camera would be the perfect purchase. I had lately been annoyed at how my camera wouldn't catch movement. It's reaction time was so slow that spontaneous candid moments (which are my favorite, of course) were nearly impossible to catch. The lighting also never seemed to be right, and I was annoyed at how blurry pictures came out without the flash on.
So, I started doing some research. Apparently, there is an entire market of people just like me, who are just above a point and shoot digital camera, but are not quite ready to be professional photographers just yet. Nikon and Canon just came out with a series of cameras that are meant for people just like me. I did a ton of research online and in stores, and ended up going with the Nikon D3000. It has a guide setting where you can scroll through a list of options for pictures you would like to take (close ups, portraits, moving objects, night portraits, etc.) and then lights, focuses and sets itself to take those kind of pictures. So far, it has been AMAZING! I have only had the camera a day and a half and have already taken 99 pictures, just messing around with John and the dogs.
My goal is to learn enough about the settings that I can set them myself, without having to use the guide. I want to be quick enough to catch candid moments. I want to be able to take our family pictures myself, like these people do. I want to be the person who walks around at church potlucks, family gatherings and school parties observing and catching funny faces. I would also love to give those pictures to the people that are in them (silly distinction, I suppose? Why would anyone want a picture of someone other than themselves, or if they weren't there? But I digress...), and maybe I caught something in them that they've never seen.
Anyway, maybe I am getting to wistful. The point is, I am super excited about this new goal, and feel that it is attainable. Stay tuned!
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