My New Baby

Guess what everyone? I have a new baby! She’s beautiful, so new and clean and gorgeous…okay, so, she’s a camera. But she’s still my baby!

For those of you that are totally lost, let me give you a little backstory. Way back in 2005, I was gifted by my generous, new (at the time) husband a refurbished Canon Digital Rebel XT DSLR camera for Christmas. Man oh man, how I loved that little camera. I was about five months pregnant and was nesting like a madwoman, and this beautiful camera provided me with the outlet I’d been searching for. Within months I’d memorized the entire user guide and was spending my free time watching You Tube tutorials on photography. Within a year I’d accepted a few paid photography gigs for friends. And about two years in I shot my first wedding. I was in love. I’d always felt like an artistic person, but as someone who can’t paint or draw or sketch or knit to save her life, I assumed I just wasn’t meant to be a creative. My new camera finally gave me a way to express all that creativity that was bottled up inside. It was liberating!

But digital cameras aren’t like their film predecessors. They don’t last for twenty or thirty years. They are basically tiny computers with lenses, and about four or five years in, my little guy just died. Sure, I kept taking photos with him, but by this point my knowledge and training were at the point that my camera just couldn’t keep up with what I wanted to do. I became pretty bogged down even knowing I’d have to be taking photos of anything. I knew they wouldn’t be like I envisioned in my head, because my old guy wouldn’t be able to perform like I needed. I pretty much stopped taking pictures at all, save shots taken and edited using the iPhone.

I researched and budgeted for a new camera body, knowing that even if I bought the cheapest option in the Canon DSLR line, it would be worlds above what I was using. But I could never find a great deal on a refurbished body and I pretty much gave up on the whole idea. But then my sister called earlier this week and told me her local camera store was going out of business, and everything was up to 40% off. I headed down there not expecting anything….and left with a brand new Canon 60D!!! I still can’t believe I actually bought it.

I’ve only had the new camera for a little over a day, but already I feel like a spark has been reignited. By the time I got home with my loot, there was no time to charge the battery and get any shots, so I charged it up overnight and grabbed it as I headed out the door for work. This is the first photo I shot (straight out of the camera, with no Photoshop):

Are you kidding me?! I would have died for that shot from my old camera! DIED! And here it was, the first shot I took. (I guess it doesn’t hurt that my subject is so adorable…)

I had a meeting downtown this afternoon, and when it was over, I decided to go on a 20 minute photo walk and take my new girl for a test drive. Bear in mind, I haven’t looked at the manual or done any sort of training on this model yet, so I still have a ways to go, but you guys…I think I found my passion again. For real.