Thursday, January 29, 2009

Out of hiding

Today the sun came out, the rain and cold went away, Sunny ventured out of her house and we walked and walked and walked and walked. I did more camera research too, and when I finally realized what it meant (although I'd read this many times) that all Nikon lenses are interchangeable even the very old variety, I decided to pull this little baby out of hiding, not remembering if it was a Nikon or a Canon. It has a sweet little 50mm lens (f /1:2 I think) which will work even on today's digital SLRs. If it had been a Canon I'd be out of luck, the really old ones don't work on their new models.

Both the camera and lens date back to one of Kevin's "side" jobs selling camera equipment with a high school friend for the friend's father who made an entire career I believe out of "something on the side". I think it was used at the time and served as payment for working at some camera shows. Kevin even had a little foray into photography with it and wasn't half bad, we even have some of his work hanging in the kitchen. Sometimes it really pays to hold onto things, it's got to be at least 30 years old and still takes awesome pictures.

After months of looking and learning and gentle persuading, I think I now have Kevin on board to get a new camera, although it may still be a while till we actually buy one. Those who know me or have been following for a while may be tired of hearing my camera woes, but this is a big deal and I'm determined to make a wise and informed purchase.

More than anything his frustration with the point and shoot variety has convinced him to make the change, as well as my willingness to be his personal fishing photographer. The fun possibilities of togetherness this conjures up is truly enticing. Obsessed Knitter Lady takes pictures of Fisher King husband, oh my. Only I may have to hide it when he goes fishing with his friends--you remember his trip a few days ago and all the new dents my camera came back with, right?

More than anything, today has been one of pushing away silly fears of the unknown, taking calculated risks and looking back on all the benefits that come from doing such things. I was fearful of renovating our house 10 years ago and spending all that money, I was fearful of starting a business and a blog a few years back and I was afraid of going from 2 salaries to 1 when we had kids, the list goes on and on and on. But looking back, each of those decisions has only made my life substantially and immeasureably better, more than words can explain and more than I ever could have imagined at the time. Today I decided to kick fear in the butt and head the other direction. What a relief.

2 comments:

Pamela said...

You get out there and take those calculated risks!

All the best,
Your risk-averse friend who will be waiting excitedly on the sidelines

Anonymous said...

Here's to keeping it up!