Budding Photographer

Yours truly is making a conscious attempt to be at least an amateur photographer. Photography is a good fit for a number of reasons. My day job makes me think in very analytical terms. This fits well with the technical aspects of photography yet unlike my job it gives me a creative, artistic outlet. Furthermore, my love for hunting and fishing give me great opportunities to photograph not only great subjects but to capture memories. Memories, after all, is what hunting and fishing is really all about.

Ok, so before yesterday I had a Canon Elan II SLR. It was film, not digital and while it was a very capable camera it didn’t give the instant feedback you get with today’s digital cameras. This is a common theme for just about anybody making the switch to digital photography. To offset the Elan II my wife and I bought a Canon SD-400 and it was a great little camera. Yes, I see the camera snobs turning up their nose already. What that little camera was great for was taking pictures of life and taking short video clips. The more I experimented with the settings of the camera the more I found it’s limitations. In ability to set ISO speed, no control over shutter speed and aperture.

So here I am, the owner of a new Canon Digital Rebel XTi…a good mid-market SLR that fills in the holes of the SD400. I chose the XTi because it would gladly accept the 28-80mm, 78-300mm and the 2x converter I already owned. Owning this camera lets me experiment with the settings, take the picture, instant review it and learn from the results. Like many new budding photographers, this is an exciting process and I look forward to sharing this journey.