The camera

This is what Kate sees when she looks at me. Ha! No, I don't really have this thing stuck to my face all the time, it just seems like it.

The camera is a Canon EOS 20D. Some time last summer I decided that we needed a digital camera (probably soon after finding out I was pregnant), so I started researching. I had almost decided on the Canon G6, and then I ran across a review that convinced me that if I wanted something with a quick response time that would work in low light levels, I really needed a digital SLR. (Doug has a manual film SLR, a Pentax K1000, so I was at least a little familiar with the concept.) Of course that led to more research, and before I knew it I was drooling over lens reviews and reading the forum on dpreview, and bookmarking stunning photo galleries. I got my heart set on the 20D, but had no idea where I would come up with the money.

Then one day I was at a meeting of the Stake Emergency Management Team. (It's a church thing.) Our friend Scott is the president, so he got me to be the secretary. So we were at this meeting, and Ross, one of the counselors, had recently seen the mural that I painted in Scott's apartment, and asked me if I would like to come paint a wall for him. I said I thought I could probably do that. He asked how much I would charge, and I said, "Well, there's this camera that I've been lusting after..."

We arranged that Ross would get me a 20D in exchange for a mural. I started painting around the end of October. I was very pregnant by this point, which made things interesting, but I finished about two weeks before my due date and had the camera in my hands before Kate was born. I've gotten much better at using it now (though I've still got a lot to learn, of course!) so some of those early shots weren't as good as they could have been, but I'm happy to have them.

The trouble with having a camera like this is that it makes you want more. More memory cards, more lenses... (oooh, the lenses...) I only have the 50mm f/1.4 lens right now, but there are a couple more that I've got my eye on. Soon. Hopefully. (If I ever get the Cupboard Under the Stairs finished.)

We took Kate out to see Ross's family a few weeks ago, since they'd never actually met her. It was fun to see the mural again, and of course I took my camera along.



While I was painting we were having car trouble, so I used one of Ross's cars to get back and forth. About halfway through the project he asked if perhaps I would like the car instead of the camera. We tossed the idea around for a while (car, camera, car, camera...) and decided to go with the camera. I was so happy that Doug supported me in that. He knew it was something that was important to me, and he's mentioned several times since then that he's glad we got the camera. And we were able to find another car when we needed one, so everything worked out all right.

Now we have a sweet little baby girl and a great camera to take lots and lots of pictures of her.