Patrick lovingly took notice of my constant (complaining) requests for a new camera. I know I should just be thankful to have a camera and I hope I was. It's just that our camera was falling apart. I dropped it on the floor as a flustered new mom when Henry was only a few weeks old causing the battery compartment door to break and stay constantly open. I had to cover it with tape to keep it closed. Then on our first trip to Destin, FL. in 2006 I left it laying on my beach towel and sand got into it and must have caused a few things to go wrong -- the movie feature only recorded 30 second or less movies from that point on and my pictures turned out generally blurry. It also made the shutter speed so super slow causing me constant frustration at missing good shots of the boys who are always in motion. That frustration coupled with my latest hobby, stalking blogs of uber talented camera users (aka photographers, I suppose), drew me to wishfully wanting a new "nice" camera.
After doing just a small bit of research, mostly on those aforementioned blogs, I narrowed my wish list down to two cameras, either of which I thought would be perfect. The week of Christmas Patrick was very busy surfing the net. When I came into the office he'd quickly minimize the window on the screen, but not before I caught glances of such words as "Canon" and "Nikon". I reprimanded him for even thinking about buying me a gift since we had agreed that we would only give to the boys this year. Nonetheless he surprised me on Christmas with a picture in an envelope. Not just any picture though. A picture of the Nikon camera that would be coming for me in the mail. I was thrilled! Fast forward to a week or so later when my camera arrived. My excitement started to turn to terror and fear of this new beast of a camera. No problem, I thought, it's easy to read a user's manual. I for sure thought I could figure this thing out. I read my user's manual late into the night and started to feel overwhelmed. Words like "aperture", and phrases like "manipulating ISO and shutter speed" started to haunt me.
I signed up for a community ed class that starts next month. I hope that will help me figure out what all of those crazy words mean. In the meantime I am having fun with our new camera and even with my bare user knowledge I have definitely noticed a vast improvement in picture quality. And it is fun to feel a little bit like that paparazzi with that lens!
Here's a peek at a few recent pics ---
Henry gets really excited about this camera. I have a whole montage of "excited face" pictures I took (one after the next) of Henry looking at me taking his picture with the new camera. How sweet!
RachelLove this picture of her!
Practicing for the paparazzi.I think it makes Patrick laugh when I try to get really into it - he took this picture of me!
We have another budding photographer in the house!
I took these with our old camera to compare.
Look at that picture he took of me!
I look like an old man! LOL!
We have another budding photographer in the house!I took these with our old camera to compare.
Look at that picture he took of me!I look like an old man! LOL!
9 comments:
I am a little jealous of your new professional looking camera. Ours is from before Nathan was born, which is "ancient" in digital cameras... well, sort of. It's a pretty good camera, but has a 20 second limit on movies (that have audio at least, which is great) and that usually cuts off right when the cuteness is starting! Photography is one of those hobbies I've always wanted to learn about, but never did. I'm glad now that I didn't bother taking any classes in high school, since developing film is practically obsolete! Anyway, enjoy the new camera! We'll be in the market eventually- how did you end up narrowing it down?
The pictures you've taken with your new camera look great! It's neat that you're taking a class next month, and then you can teach me a few things. Between you and my friend, Sarah, I'm inspired to learn about photography. It's always something I thought sounded like a neat hobby to have, but I never wanted to take the time to learn. Now, though, I really want to be able to capture all of our special moments in a "professional" manner. You'll have to tell me more about your camera sometime.
Love,
Erica
PS-LOVE the picture of you with your new camera!!!!
The pictures taken with your new camera are wonderful ~ so sharp and clear! I think it would be fun to have a more professional camera, but I struggle with my little Nikon Coolpix camera so guess I better stick with it, ha! Love checking out your blog and seeing the great pictures of your boys! Ruth
Hi Christina, my name is Ron, and I visit your blog once in a while by way of Sally's (I used to work with Tim). I guess I'm a bit of a blogstalker myself. ;) Anyway, I also just got a digital SLR camera (mine is a Canon Rebel XSi) so I wanted to congratulate you on yours! The pics you posted look great. I used to have a film SLR back in the day which I never really made very good use of, but I think it's easier to learn with digital so I'm hoping to make the most of my new camera. Good luck and have fun shooting!
Hey! I know exactly what you mean by being a little bit intimidated by the camera. Ryan got me a Nikon camera for Christmas and I am scared to death of it! I feel like I am going to destroy it if I touch it. I love the pics you take. You should be a professional photographer, although I believe it is your beautiful children that make the pictures works of art:)
The clarity of those pictures is incredible. You look like such a natural holding that camera!!! Before you know it, people will be paying you to take photos of them!!
You will be a fantastic photographer. I know that you will learn a lot in your class, but your first tries look great to me. love ya,
Sandi
Christina,
I tagged you on my blog. Hope you don't mind. :-)
Love you guys!
SAra
Christina,
I tagged you on my blog. Hope you don't mind. :-)
Love you guys!
SAra
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