So much happened last week but nothing really worth too much focus (haha, this is a pun but you don’t get it yet) except for this. (I said the exact same thing last year if that gives you a hint.)

This was me last weekend taking Eric’s senior portraits. My sister captured this moment, and a few others, with my beloved camera. And that in my hands- ahem- was my first time using a DSLR. I think you know what that means. Yeah, that’s right. I have a new toy.

Behold.

The good news is it’s a Canon (as opposed to considering potentially purchasing the Nikon D80) which means the menu and interface is a lot like what I’m used to using with the Powershot S3 IS. The bad news is no video abilities, but of course I can still use the Powershot S3 IS. A lot of people ask me what equipment I use for the shots on my flickr, and for you I’d like to speak a little bit about the current inannimate love of my life. I am in NO way dissatisfied with my current camera. I just know that for taking portraiture I needed an SLR. So for those of you looking to buy a great starter camera that isn’t as expensive as a DSLR (Those run $600-$800 with a basic lens) I COMPLETELY recommend the Canon Powershot series. Preferably either the S3 IS or the new edition Canon released this fall, the S5 IS. (Holy crap.) The camera that I’ve been using this past year was the S3 IS, and it cost me about $300. That’s not a lot as far as digital cameras are concerned and it was completely worth it. You can shoot home movies, take pictures, portraits, adjust the f/stop and shutter speed and do a whole array of neat little feature changes right there on the camera. I couldn’t praise the Canon Powershot enough. Pretty much everything in my Flickr gallery was taken with the Powershot, and if you want to take pictures like that, you can. As Captain Planet would say, “The power(shot, haha) is yours!”

Back on to the Digital Rebel. My only complaint is that the lens is a little slow, but in most places it was worth it to get the standard 18-55 mm lens (I was looking at starting with a 17-85 mm) and eventually adding a second lens rather than getting the body only and starting with a different one. Really, for portraiture and food photography I’d like a different lens but 18-55 is a great start. Anyway, my sister tells me I’m starting to sound like a nerd (which is fine by me, but maybe not by you) so I’ll wrap it up now.

Some exciting things are happening. Most of it I’m keeping hush-hush simply because I don’t want to jynx it. Honestly though, there’s nobody I’d rather share this excitement with. (Aside from Jei and my best friend.) Oh, and yes Will, you can play with it when you visit. (I’m actually looking forward to the nerdiness of it.)