New Hobby

This was originally written on Wednesday, June 24, 2009:

If I ever have time to start a new hobby, I would like it to be photography. I've always loved pictures, and don't know why I've never pursued it. I received my first camera when I was ten years old (it was hot pink!) and fantasized about having my own dark room, but it wasn't until college when I finally took a photography class. It was really disappointing - we didn't learn anything other than how to use a digital camera. There's so much I would need to learn to get to where I want to be, as well as buy a new camera, photo editing software, etc. But I did get the online scrapbooking kit from Joe for our anniversary in April (I mentioned this in my post, Finally) so that might get me started. . .I've finished my hard-copy scrapbooks for now, so I've decided to halt that hobby - so maybe that will allow me to be able to pursue photography. We'll see!

UPDATE ON JULY 4, 2009: Today Joe, Logan, and I were at a 4th of July parade and our camera dropped to the ground - as in, slammed down hard on the cement - and broke. When I said that I wanted to take up photography and that would require getting a new camera I didn't mean that I didn't want my current one anymore!!! :( It is VERY upsetting, that thing is attached to me at the hip. I record Logan's every breath! It was given to me by Joe for a Christmas gift in 2006 so it didn't even last three years :( This camera was special to me, it recorded my pregnancy and Logan's first 14.5 months!

We received our first digital camera in 2003 from Joe's mom but unfortunately it stopped working by November 2006. The previous month the pictures had begun coming out really poor quality and then one day it wouldn't take any at all. So we were on the look-out for a new one in December when we went to Joe's office Christmas party. We sat with Matt & Stacy (the couple who now has Jaxson, Logan's friend who was born six days after him) and they had a Cannon Powershot SD630. It was exactly what we wanted and we've had no complaints with it the past 2.5 years.

I've dropped it before so I was really shocked that this drop was fatal, but it was probably the hardest fall it'd ever had. Joe took it apart and tried to fix it, but he does not think it will be able to be revived.

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

FINAL UPDATE ON FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2009: Well it's official. I'm becoming a photographer :) After my camera broke, combined with already an interest in photography from the time I was ten years old and bought my first camera, combined with a sudden need to make a huge change to my life (more on that in my next post), has led to the perfect timing of making the proper steps to pursue photography.

Photography is the first profession that I had an interest in once I learned at the age of ten that I couldn't just be an author when I grew up. Until then, being an author was my only choice for a career. In 4th grade, though, I added photography or being a police dispatcher. (To this day, the criminal justice field is the only other profession that interests me.) However, the police dispatcher career faded by 5th grade (I think it was just because Rescue 911 had been my favorite show, haha). Photography stayed until 6th grade, though, when I traded it for TV/radio news which is what stuck for the next 14 years (where I worked until I could become a full-time writer at the age of 26). But I never stopped taking pictures or admiring others' work.

At some point in high school I got a new camera, and one or two more film cameras before my first digital in 2003. These (including my last digital in 2006) were all just regular cameras so they never captured the kind of shots that I had in my mind. Like I said before, I took a photography class in college hoping to finally learn how to make this passion my hobby. I'd learned photojournalism when it came to video taping and editing for TV news, but the class for still-shooting didn't teach me anything. It was a "guinea pig" semester as far as they were changing how they'd always done things. . .what ended up happening is we hardly learned anything.

But now seems like the perfect time to try again: to capture my children growing up! It takes 2-3 years to learn the ropes so that will be perfect for when my next baby is born.

From researching all of the mom blogs who are photographers on the side, there seems to be no comparison: The Canon Rebel is the camera to go for home professional photography. I liked this way of researching much better than when I normally research merchandise because I knew I was getting real-life stories and have seen their photos over time! We also did a lot of shopping online and tonight went to Best Buy and talked to Steve who educated us on everything possible in an hour! He was excellent and suggested the Canon Rebel XS. Yes, it's expensive once you figure in the lenses, tripod, camera case, filters, flashes, etc. but I plan to take a class to make it worth it - this is a hobby I plan to have for the rest of my life. There's never been a year when I haven't taken a ton of pictures. I have two huge photo albums for every year of my life (this started when I was born - my mom should have been a photographer). I've never tired of looking at other people's pictures - even of people I don't know. My grandmothers tease me because I do the same thing every single time I visit them: go straight to their photo albums to look at every single picture for the millionth time. I've never been good at art or anything else in the artistic field, except writing and photography. So I'm really excited about finally doing this!!!

Joe said we could take a photo editing class together. We've had photoshop on our comptuer since we got married, but even after 6 years we don't know how to use it the best. We've self-taught ourselves to do little things, but we've never been able to do true professional editing - which is something I will want to do once I start taking pictures with my new camera.

I heard a commercial on the radio today that another Omaha store, Rockbrook Camera, has a sale thru tomorrow on Canon Rebels. I told Joe it was fate - so hopefully we will end up buying everything tomorrow. . .and then I can begin!