Under the Tree

In 2000 I bought a Canon Rebel 35mm camera for business and pleasure. I learned to use it and really liked it, but then the digital revolution came along. As much as I like SLR photography, I wanted the immediacy and convenience of digital media.

For the past several years I've been using an HP Photosmart camera for all my digital photo work. I've taken thousands of pictures with the thing and while it works well for snapshots, it had a few little bugs that I didn't like. The flash would delay a shot and sometimes when you're shooting grandkids and pets, you want the shot when you push the button, not three or four seconds later. I'd be trying to get a shot of the dog and he'd move, the camera would shutter, and I'd have a photo of empty floor. Aggravating!

Every time I would miss a shot, I'd exclaim that one day I was going to have enough and I'd go buy a digital SLR. My wife had heard this exclamation for the past several years. So, last night as we were opening gifts, I found that she'd bought me a digital SLR. A Canon EOS Rebel XS. This camera is a lot like my Rebel film camera and has a lot of the same bells and whistles, but has additional features that I'll have to learn. The lens has a feature called Image Stabilization that I'll have to explore.

I've taken maybe half a dozen shots with it and I think I'm really going to like this camera. It won't entirely replace my old HP pocket camera, I can see that I'm going have a lot of fun learning this new camera.

One shot, of poinsettias taken at the smallest megapixel range of the camera. I was piddling with the camera and snapped this shot over the top of the computer.



I think I"m going to like this camera. I'm not a photographer, but I am a picture-snapper. This camera will expand my repetoire. I am indeed a lucky man.