Keep Moving Forward

I'm really really excited about this next year's photography.  I have some projects that I want to work on that are going to be a lot of fun for me and get me out of my comfort zone.

I've also got something else to be excited about.

I bought a NEW CAMERA!!!

All last year, I was saving up so that I could get a new camera.  I got a Canon Rebel XS more than two years ago.  I bought it because I loved photography but I was scared to put too much money into a hobby in case I didn't stick with it.

But it turns out that I loved photography just as much as I thought that I did.  And as my skill has improved, my desire to get the best equipment that I could afford grew and grew.

I bought a Canon 7D.

It is such a HUGE jump in quality that the Canon website doesn't even let you compare the two cameras together.  They are like 18 steps/cameras apart from each other.

The day after I got this camera I read in a book that I'm reading (Visual Poetry by Chris Orwig), "We read about a new and shiny camera.  Eventually, we buy one and hold it in our hands.  The model is so impressive we don't really know what to do.  So we give in and switch the camera or our mind-set to automatic mode."

This is how I felt.  I finally got this new shiny camera in my hands and I was instantly afraid.  There is so much to learn!  What if my photography doesn't keep improving and I just put my mind-set in automatic?

So with this camera, I'm going to work harder to keep improving.  I'm going to push this camera to its limits!  As Walt Disney said, "We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

P.S. I'm still thinking about whether or not I want to sell the Canon Rebel XS.  An extra $400 would be nice...but so would an SLR that I can take kayaking without being scared if the worst happens, I'm out of business (not that Aaron would ever let me take it near water!).