picture winter {day 5} + a NEW {well, used... but new to me} CAMERA!!!!!

so, here it is day five of my picture winter workshop. but this is not the photo i submitted today. instead, i submitted this one... which i actually took yesterday for my simple soulful workshop. the shot i used here would not have been a good entry, because... well, we just don't keep our christmas decs up every day of the year. i WISH we could. if hubby would let me, i just might. {i think one year, i had the tree up until march.} anyway, even if we can't keep them up all year, don't you think every day should still be this shiny and sparkly? I DO!!!

i guess i should explain... the theme was to shoot objects in our environment that are intended for every day use. i had a hard time figuring out what i might shoot... i mean, there are many objects i use every day... or even if i don't, they are intended to be used. but a lot of what i thought to shoot was not good for a day such as this. what i mean by that is, it was cloudy here today. and i have a not very brightly lit home. there are a lot of windows, but i just don't seem to get a ton of bright, natural light. {that is another reason i used a photo from yesterday... it was taken in a cafe that had a lot more natural light.}

well, this will bring me to another point at the end of this post. but first, since i had shot some pics of my journal/to-do notebook with a cup of tea yesterday, i decided it would be a great re-use for today's picture winter. i wish you could check out all the other really creative submissions for today's prompt... there were some really unique concepts and ideas used. when i saw several of them {and several from the first four days}, i thought, "man! how i wish i had a better camera to use!! so many of the other photos had that wonderful depth of focus that i can not get nearly as much of or as effectively with my little point-and-shoot. i just think that sort of d.o.f. can often make for a much more interesting photo!

well, that brings me to the other point of this post. the above photo was my first ever flickr upload that was taken with the hand-me-down nikon d40, which i was given several months ago!!!

i've been meaning to pick it up and learn it, but every time i thought about it sitting on the shelf in the cupboard, i felt it searingly voicing back to me through the door, "you'll never be able to figure me out! you don't even know how to use your point-and-shoot all the way!"

well, in all fairness, it wasn't only that i was intimidated. i was not able to use it at first, because i was not given a manual or a charger for the camera, so the battery was dead, and i didn't have the first clue what several of the buttons and settings meant. i mean, i understood the basics. but i shoot in manual, so i had a hard time finding the settings on the computer screen that i needed.

anyhoo... i bought a charger for it, and i got some used books about the d40 on amazon a while back... dirt cheap, too. it's the way to go. still, i let it sit there and intimidate me. i just didn't think i could do it. isn't that strange?

but then, serendipity stepped in... in the form of a very sweet new blogger friend who has become an instant blogging buddy. {we even friended on facebook!! and i share that, because our fb correspondence is the reason i found the courage and inspiration to go try that sucker out!!}

she kept hounding me. {not really, but she was sweetly prodding me to JUST DO IT already.} she encouraged me that i really should be shooting with a dslr by the time the baby comes. i knew i couldn't disagree. but i am one fearful girl when it comes to change! crazy, no?

so tonight, after charging my battery, i JUST DID IT! and, OH MY GOODNESS... i couldn't be happier now. it was like the voice of heavenly angels broke through the sky when i started shooting with that thing... worlds apart from my point-and-shoot!!! even with the low light in my home {especially at night}, i was still able to get this shot. i COULD NOT have with my canon. just so much more flexibility! i was so giddy using it to take pics of my little baby ornament and the christmas-tree-light bokeh. like a kid in a candy store. i still have SO MUCH to learn on it. but sweet stacey said she would help me with anything she can, as she has a similar camera... the d60.

THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, stacey! i'd still be sitting in my pinto if you had not encouraged me to get into my lexus!! {well, it feels like a lexus, anyway.} i ABSOLUTELY could not have taken the above shot with my old camera.

and what perfect timing... now that i am in these two photography workshops. i can feel at least a little more on everyone else's level! i owe you a big cyber hug. and i can't wait to start diving into a whole new level of photography.

sorry for yet another loooooong-winded post. but i just had to share!!! now i'm off to update my camera equipment status in my side column!!