Sunday Photo Blogging

Today I learned a lesson about the destructiveness of gadget lust. You see, I've always loved photography. I love tramping through the woods taking pictures, and have wanted to get more deeply involved in taking pictures. My camera of choice for many years was an old Canon AE-1 35 mm. Recently, I've wanted to switch to digital, but have had my heart set on getting a really good SLR Nikon digital. My object of desire was the Nikon D200, or (if I had to settle) the D-80. I would regularly scan through the photography magazines and read the reviews of these wonderful cameras. The problem is that the D200 (with a lens) costs somewhere around $1100 and the D80 costs around $800, and I've just never had the cash to spend. So, I have gone without a digital camera, unwilling to settle for less than what I wanted.

So, I would mope around, moaning about the fact that I couldn't afford the camera I wanted. Every once and a while I would get out the AE-1 and shoot some pictures. But then the rolls of film would sit around for months until I got around to getting it developed. For my blog, I was using the camera on my phone, which is pretty bad.

Well, today the always-wise Renee put an end to my silliness. We were in the camera store, and she said "I want a digital camera. I'm sick of not being able to take pictures of you and I and the kids. I'm going to get one." And she did. She bought a $79 Nikon Cookpix package (I went in halves on it with her). She told me she was getting it for us, but when we got home, she told me that it was really for me.

So, I unwrapped it and started playing around with it, and you know what? It's great fun! It takes good pictures and the photo editing software that came with it is easy and powerful. I went out in the woods for a few hours and took loads of shots. The camera has it's limits, but I'm learning to work within them.

Someday I'll get that fancy digital camera. But until then, I'm not going to let my desire for perfection get in the way of doing what I want to do.

Now, without further ado, here are some of the pictures I took today.