So back in the beginning of January, I talked a bit about the things I was looking to change, create, or get rid, of in my post about my resolutions.  One of the first things I did was go see the doctor and I’m mostly on track with that – I may have had a bad day yesterday, but mostly on track and I’m happy with my progress on that front.

The second thing I’ve been working on is creativity – I talked in the first post about figuring out what makes my heart sing and taking pictures does that.  I don’t know that I’d want to be a pro, but I love taking pictures of the events that we go to, of the field trips we take, the food we eat, etc.  I have to admit that I was not much of a photographer when you had to go develop film, but since digital photography became affordable, I have been all over it – I got my first digital camera in 1999.  Back in December, I went on a photo walk with local photographer, Kent Weakley after having taken one of his online courses.  I really enjoyed the course – but there were some things I just didn’t quite get, so I thought that taking the walking class I’d have the opportunity to ask him about the things that confused me. You see, I’ve really been trying to “up my game” when it comes to taking pictures and I was getting frustrated that I couldn’t figure some things out.  Kent was great, he really took the time to figure out what my problem was and he was so nice about it.  In the end, it turned out that my camera (a high end point and shoot) was still auto focusing even when I was telling it not to.

I have to tell you, I was so relieved that it wasn’t me! I knew then and there that it was time to finally take the plunge and get a DSLR.  I did tons of research about Nikons and Canons and in the end I decided that the Canon was the one I wanted.  I went to stores and held them all, played with the features, really got the feel.  I loved the way the Rebel felt, but I was really confused about kits. I came across on article on The Pioneer Woman’s site by Miz Booshay about kits and the lenses that usually come with them and I knew that I needed the 50mm f/1.8 lens – I want to play with bokeh and take soft portrait shots with shallow depths of field and I got the impression that this was a great lens to start with.

 

Ok, so I knew I wanted this one – but I also wanted a lens for walking around and landscape and event photography, with a zoom.  I polled everyone I knew, in real life, on Facebook, Twitter, and everyone talked about buying the 18-135 or 18-200 mm.  the 18-200 was out of my price range, but there was a kit that had the 18-135.

Hmm..

The problem, however – is that this was going to cost me about eleventy billion dollars. Ok, just under $1100.00.  Still – I don’t have that kind of money lying around.  Not to be deterred, I sold everything I owned that we weren’t using;  all the old iPods, iPhones, cameras, homeschool curriculum, anything that was fetching a couple of bucks on eBay and then Jim got an unexpected bonus and gave it to me, so that I didn’t have to wait for all the money to clear before ordering the camera.

I ordered the camera and not one penny came out of our household finances.  Yay!

I received the camera yesterday and I’m blown away by the features and photographs it takes. I can’t wait to get out and start taking pictures – as of now, I’ve taken pictures of my living room, just to lock in my memory where each of the settings are and what they do.  I’m a little intimidated by the camera, but I know that once I start shooting I’ll be much more comfortable.  There are hundreds of online groups and challenges and I’m thinking I might start with this one:

Here’s the problem:  I already know of about $800 worth of merchandise that I’m going to want soon.  I’ve made a deal with myself though, no more lenses until I’m completely comfortable with the two I already have.  But I think… no, I know I need this:

Kelly Moore Bag: 2 Sues Bag from kelly clark on Vimeo.

Are you doing any photography challenges or groups?  Want to connect and share your photos with me?  I’m on Flickr.

P.S. If you’re in the market, make sure to check B&H Photo – they had the best prices on the camera and lenses I was researching.
P.P.S Extra points if you can name the film from which I blatantly stole the title.

It is OK to use my photos or content provided a link back and proper crediting is given