Monte has nurtured my love of photography over the years; starting with the gift of my first 35mm film SLR camera – a Nikon FM10. On it, I learned the basics: how to manually adjust aperture, shutter speed, film speed, focus, depth of field, flash… everything. It was the only camera we brought on our honeymoon, to capture all those once-in-a-lifetime moments – a bit risky since we wouldn’t be able to see how they turned out until we got home. I was thrilled to see that they all turned out to be beautifully captured images after getting the film developed.
Then he got me my first digital camera – a Nikon Coolpix 7600 point and shoot. It was his first experience w/ digital photography as well.
Once we started making regular sailing trips in the Caribbean, I bought a Canon PowerShot D10 for underwater photography. It turned out to be such a great camera that it has been my main, go-to camera on land or sea, and it sparked my desire to start this photoblog almost 6 years ago.
In the last year or two, pure laziness has led me to use my iPhone camera for many of the shots I post here, though I still drag the Canon along everywhere I go.
But my wish all along has been to get a “real” and quality digital camera – a big-girl camera – one that might allow me to take my photography to the next level.
Last week, since I had a whole week off of work, Monte took me camera shopping. He helped me pick out The One – an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II. Along with two lenses, this is the latest (and best!) gift of photography equipment from him to indulge my hobby; for which I cannot thank him enough.
All of a sudden I feel like a real photographer!
The camera is amazing. I am taking the time to study the 170 page manual to learn about each of its features in the range of all-automatic to all-manual operational modes. I’m only taking practice shots for now, but with the rain and lack of sunny days lately, I haven’t yet taken it for a real spin outside.
I can’t wait to see what develops. 🙂
Sheila365 