A gift for myself

I wanted to buy something for myself that would be like a gift from my dad. And while I've had lots of ideas floating around in my head for the past 5 months, I've been having an internal debate over what exactly that gift or gifts would be. Purchasing a desk was no-brainer since I didn't have one and needed one desperately. It also fit into the category of something I would have a very long time, would be part of my daily life, and not consumable which were my self-imposed requirements for the gift. I was having a hard time committing to anything else because, by nature, I am not a high dollar shopper and I don't like to spend large amounts of money on any one thing. Give me a Target clearance rack and I'm happy!

I finally decided to purchase a digital SLR camera. Partly because I've never been happy with the quality of photographs I get from a point and shoot and I regret the day I sold my Canon Rebel, even if it wasn't digital. If you were ever around my dad, you know he was a picture fanatic. Not that he ever had any high quality equipment, but he loved to snap pictures of everything and anyone, no matter how unflattering you might look at the moment. You can't imagine the volume of pictures I sorted through after the funeral. Just for fun, here's one I found that he took when he came to see me the first time at college. I always liked it when family came to see me or Kevin at school. That meant we could eat something other than the cafeteria food or Taco Tico.

The quality is not great, but what did you expect from a scan of a Polaroid? I'd give anything to have my long, thick hair back; and yes, I really was that skinny. I ate like a horse and never could get over 95 pounds. Trust me, there is no chance that I will ever get back into my wedding dress.

Anyway, I thought it appropriate to feed my love of photography with a new camera from my dad in an indirect sort of way. I got a Nikon D40 with 2 lenses and have had tons of fun playing with it. I tortured the children at the park this week since all the pictures I have of them are at least 4 years old. I can do all kinds of cool stuff, most of which I haven't figured out yet, but I love the ability to change a picture to black and white or sepia, in camera. Here's one of my favorite shots:

It was purely accidental; I was just snapping away in the park and caught Kate on the tire swing. I'm not sure what it is exactly about the picture that makes me love it--the innocence or the abstract lines. I just do. Keep checking back throughout the week and I'll share more of my first adventures with my new camera.