Ever since I was a kid, I have enjoyed taking photos.  I started with those cheap Kodak disposable cameras with 110 film inside them.  They had 24 pics per roll, but I remember if I forwarded the pics “just so”, I was always able to get 1 extra partially exposed photo from the developer (usually a pharmacy).  I loved taking surprise pics of family, friends and my childhood cats!  I also enjoyed taking pics outside and that is probably where my love of nature photography started.  It is also where I discovered my love of symmetry.  I started out trying to take perfectly balanced photos and whenever it didn’t work out, I considered it imperfect.

From there, when I was a teenager, I saved up for a Polaroid instant camera.  I loved it!  I loved the instant gratification of seeing the pic about a minute or two after taking it (that made me a perfect candidate for the digital photography age!)  By the way, don’t ask how I know, but those photos smell disgusting when you burn them 🙂

Then when I was in college (in the mid 1990s or so), my boyfriend (who is now my hubby) and I bought a Sony Mavica DSC.  It was even cooler that my Polaroid!  I actually still have it packed away in a closet somewhere, but will probably not use it again, since technology has come such long way.  A bunch of my favorite close-ups of flowers and plants came from that camera!  And with my hubby’s help, I discovered that I was beginning to like to photograph asymmetrical items as well.  There still had to be balance in some manner, but my subject didn’t always have to be centered – unless the subject itself was a perfect candidate for centering.

I can’t remember how I got the next camera, but it was somehow related to my husband’s job at the time.  It was an Olympus 4 MP “Camedia”. And I think it compared pretty similarly to my Mavica in picture quality, but it was smaller to carry around.  It became my “go to” camera until we purchased the next camera.

In 2007, we bought a Canon PowerShot SD800 IS.  It is a 7.1 MP camera and that is what I used from then until yesterday!  Many more of my nature shots are from this camera.  I also learned how to take more functional and architectural shots with this camera, while using available lighting rather than the flash to the best advantage.  I discovered with this camera that I was often either too close or too far away for the flash to function well.  I’m not sure if that was because the flash was different or if my subject matters changed.

Now I have a brand new Nikon D3300 with 24 MP, all sorts of cool effects and the ability to be fully automatic and/or fully manual.  I love it!  I gave up the smaller Canon and decided to go back to a larger camera for the great ability to use it manually and be able to change the lenses and effects, etc.  So now, I will be seen carrying around a purse, a diaper bag and a camera bag to any major events!  I always call myself a pack mule for all the bags I’m carrying around…this just adds one more!  And if I’m really going all out for photography, I’ll be carting around a tripod too!  Yikes!