I treated myself to a new camera earlier this week. I haven't had one of my own in years.
The Nikon was Peter's, and I encouraged him to take it with him when he left. When we met, he'd just decided to give up being a photographer in favor of a more practical field of study. Business economics is about as far away from the creative arts as you can get.
Over the years, I'd try to get him to pick the camera up and take pictures of anything. Everything. Just shoot. "It doesn't even cost money anymore, not like when we were kids and we had to buy film and paper and chemicals. Just go out there and press the shutter a few dozen times. See what happens!"
He couldn't do it, though. He had the photographer's version of writer's block. We'd go into the City for the day, and he'd take maybe half a dozen shots, then put the camera back in the bag. He just didn't feel it anymore. He loved being an artist, but he denied that part of himself for so long that I don't think he remembered what that passion felt like anymore. I sent the camera away with him in the hope that he'd get it back. I still hope for that for him.
The first thing I did after I unpacked my new Canon was race outside to get a good picture of the Molly Flowers. My phone camera can't capture red yarns or pink flowers without making them look like they're florescing, so I haven't been able to share them before now. They make me think of her. They make me happy.
congrats on the new camera, photography is such a nice creative outlet, i would die without a camera. Have fun picture hunting :)
ReplyDeleteAwww, I love to try getting really great shots. Out of 34 years of my life I have 4 really great pictures that I framed and blew up and used in my house, lol. Okay, well I've had a few more than that turn out good, but it is just so much fun to capture a moment forever. Have lots of fun!
ReplyDeleteNow might be a good time to check into one of the photo-a-day challenges. There are often some available at Flickr, and there's http://365project.org/.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of starting up such a project to help me through the seasonal blahs that I suspect are coming up.
I love my digital cameras for that reason (taking a gazillion shots and finding the one that actually looks good - comes in very handy with little kid shots). I have everything from $80 - $300 point and shoots to my baby - A Canon EOS DSLR :)
ReplyDeleteRenae, I have seasonal blahs, too. In fact, I have seasonal blah-blah-blahs. Have you picked a project to keep you engaged through them?
ReplyDeleteJo, mine's a Canon EOS, too! I love it.