A new toy

One of the things I've never been very good with is resisting the siren call of electronic toys and gadgets. Photography is among one of the things that can give me a great deal of heartburn - its so very toy/gadget centered. The possibilities are of course endless.

Like power tools (and alcohol), peer pressure is rampant in photography circles. It doesn't help that there are a mix of amatures and professionals with very blurry lines (ha photography pun!). I say that I dabble with the "professional" side but haven't made a dime (still have the day job). While on one hand I think I would enjoy being paid to take photo's - it might just ruin it and become the daily grind. The definition of "amature" is someone who loves something. In my book the only difference between an amature and a professional is where the check comes from.

The "professionals" and the "semi-professionals" will sometimes go on ad nausem about the best camera system and the best this and the best that for real photographers. But they of course miss the most critical element - the photographer. Regardless of what system he or she shoots with - the talent is in the brain and fingers. While I know I'm not Ansel Adams - I can hold my own with composition and my understanding of technique.

Where do the gadgets come in? I started off with a Vivitar manual focus camera with a Pentax K mount that my parents gave to me in High School. So when I started getting really serious I stuck with the Pentax system.

Keeping in mind the best-of-the-best among narrow minded photographers, Pentax is like the hunchback in the basement that nobody wants to talk about. Picture this..... A group of photographers standing around comparing lens size and someone walks up with a Pentax. Everyone moves to the side to avoid the poor unfortunates embarrassment.

While I know the system isn't what is important - eventually you can outgrow what's being offered. I've watched Pentax's market share dwindle in recent years and have grown frustrated by their choices in R&D. I'll spare you my rant about what went wrong - Long and short - I decided to switch camera systems. This is of course a big deal.....

Did I mention that I have issues with electronic toys? Left to my own devices I probably would have broken the bank - or at least ended up needing to sell a kidney on EBay. Like that time about six years ago (we don't talk about that much anymore....)

So I appealed to Bridgett, our Chief Financial Officer, and she graciously agreed to let me buy a Canon EOS 7D and a few accessories to get me started. My choice in Canon is partly influenced by our friend Mark in Portland. He's a great photographer and I admire his work very much. I never felt judged having a supposedly "substandard" set of equipment around him, but I do see the advantages to using a system that has major market share in the industry. More importantly, I feel that I have room to grow and learn something again.

However, I think its going to be long road. Canon has a great system and so far I'm impressed. Of course I've only managed to burn out about a 100 images and half of those are photos of the cats, Bridgett yelling at me, and Morgan with a glazed look from flash shock (hey its been raining....) However, yesterday I managed to get out and take some in Old Town during a brief respite from gloom and rain. Overall, I'm quite pleased. The only problem is, I'm lacking a few essentials, like fast lenses, and..... Oh well - six months and time will tell!