I had resigned to the fact that I'd be a sad little cell-phone photographer indefinitely, hoping for at least a cheap point-and-shoot camera by the time baby Bo arrives in August.
Well, let me tell you what, my amazing, fantastic, super-sweet, thoughtful husband made my sadness disappear when last last week/early this week (I think on Saturday evening), he used his performance points from his (now former) job and ordered us a brand new Canon T2i DSLR camera and 32GB memory card to go with it. This camera, though a "Rebel" model (so not "professional" like the D series is, sort of) is amazing. It's capable of an excessive 18 megapixel photo and video. I tuned the settings down to a much more 'reasonable' medium-size image, which is still the same size as the large image from our old camera. I haven't tried video yet.
Well, anyway, it arrived on Wednesday, surprise! It was supposed to come on Thursday. The memory card didn't arrive until Thursday, but, fortunately, I found an old SDHC card we had (I have no idea what for), cleared that off, and was able to sneak in a photo or two on Wednesday night, just to see how it worked, before SJ went to bed. The photo of his legs and diaper is the first one that I took and shared. I was impressed. The only light source was our not-so-fantastic floor lamp, and at a 3200 ISO speed, it wasn't overly grainy or full of noise. Yay!
It'd been a really long time since I went on a little photographic rendezvous to just take pictures for the fun of it. I haven't been taking much more than photos of Spencer for about 18 months now, to be honest. Not that I haven't wanted to, but because it's hard to do that with a newborn/infant/toddler around. Especially if I want to haul around the backpack full of equipment as I usually do, and a tripod (which I never seem to remember the mount for anyway so it's always basically pointless, just like this time). But, needing to get acquainted with the Rebel was a good reason to get out and about. The only places I could think to go were my two favorite parks, of course.
The purpose in my little trip was mainly to learn the updated/new interface of the Canon DSLR, and I think I have it down pretty well, using manual settings and all. I took my time figuring that out, and then attempted some HDR shots, without a functional tripod, as I mentioned. Let me tell you what, that's hard! To hold completely still for three separate frames is hard enough, but adding the breeze into nature shots... makes it a challenge. I feel like I did pretty well for doing it for the first time since SJ was born though. The flower above is one of the macro HDR shots I did.
When he finally woke up, I attempted the macro lens on a wiggly little toddler in low-lighting, and it did quite well, I think. The photo of Spencer'e eye here is one from that attempt. My favorite part about this photo, to be quite honest, is not his adorable nature (though that's a huge plus), but the fact that you can very clearly see what the preview on his "Blue's Clues" movie was for by way of pupil reflection. Candid awesomness!
I had a ton of fun getting out and about, and in and around the house, playing with the camera. Ever since I can remember, I have loved to take photos. I had my first 110 film camera in elementary school, and even then, I would try macro photos (though I had no idea what that was at the time, terminologically speaking), and would be very sad when they'd turn out blurry (because I had no idea you needed different lenses for that). Then, I was given a Kodak Advantix for a birthday somewhere around 1998, and took a million photos of my youngest sister growing up. During camp, one summer, I think 2005, I rewarded myself for hard work by buying a Canon SLR Film camera (I forget which kind), and really started to get into a photography hobby. Then, came mine and my husband's Canon A20 point-and-shoot, which had a macro setting on it, and I explored further. We acquired the Canon 30D in 2006, and I went crazy developing my "view" and sense of style, so to speak. And since then, I've loved photography.Sadly, of course, when SJ was born, it took a back-seat to being mommy, and my photos were basically all of my precious child. While photography will still be a hobby that comes after being a mom and a wife, as I told Jake, I think I need(ed) to get back into it. I need something besides being a SAHM and wife to add interest to my day. I have many hobbies, mostly creative ones, but this one, for now, will be the best one for me to get back into whole heartedly, because it takes up much less space than say, book binding, in our small apartment with two small children (come August). It'll be compatible with our lives for now. Hopefully, someday, I can get into others again as well.
So, in summary, we got a new camera, because my husband is awesome and it made me very happy, relieved, and not sad about losing the old one. I have learned to use it, pretty well for starters anyway. And, I'm diving back into my artistic photography hobby, not just photos of my family and friends, again. It feels amazing.
If you'd like to check out my photography works (old and new, mostly older, but I still love them), feel free to "like" my new page on Facebook, specifically to showcase those works.
https://www.facebook.com/ExistingLight
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