Biting the Bullet

Like I said before, I have been tossing around photography in my head for a long time. As with any new venture, there is fear and excitement and nervous anticipation for what could actually be. Several months ago, I made a purchase. Now...Anyone who knows me well, knows that I hate to spend money. Prying anything that I have worked so hard for out of my tightly gripped, sweaty, straining hands is a difficult task to say the least. Even so, I made an expensive purchase of a certain beloved DSLR camera that I keep shoving in everyone's faces. I don't know what it was about Nikon. The name just spoke to me. The first time that I had ever heard the name was in the class that Keith taught. I brought my camera to class for approval and he approved my ancient Canon with a smile. He then pulled out a equally ancient camera that had this je ne sais quoi....this certain something that my sad, underused antique didn't have. Perhaps it was that I knew it must have seen many amazing and interesting things. Perhaps it was that it was simply his camera and he knew far more than I did about cameras. Whatever the reason, N-I-K-O-N didn't spell Nikon, oh no. It spelled National Geographic! It spelled Vogue! It spelled my ticket to distant lands and fascinating people that I could capture and share with the world! But I digress. It has been my wish for a Nikon for quite sometime...maybe an obsession. Maybe a Nikon arrogance...no other camera could possibly be as good. Before my photographical investment, friends of mine would flash around their new Canons and Fujis and Sonys and the like and I would quietly smile to myself and whisper inside of my head, "yeah. nice. but it isn't a Nikon". A Nikon was the key to all successful photography. I was convinced. So I bit the bullet and purchased, reluctantly but surely, the Nikon D200 DSLR! It arrived one sunny afternoon and so had I, as far as I was concerned! Ready to go, I set out to the backyard to try out my new best friend on my baby girl, some azaleas and our unsuspecting dog. I found that I couldn't have been more unprepared to use it than my son would have been if I had asked him to drive our car around the block. I knew the basic mechanics. I knew what all the parts were and how to change the lens. What I sadly didn't know was how I was going to put it all together...again, all I knew was point..shoot. What a disaster! My beautiful daughter was a mess with blurred hair or strange streaks across her ruddy little cheeks. Our dog ran and hid and my decade old azaleas looked no more special than pink carnations in the grocery store fridge. Deeply disappointed and a little embarrassed that I had spent all this money on something that I just couldn't use properly, I decided I should educate myself. That is what I did. I found a book and read it...something about being an idiot and having a digital SLR camera (seemed to fit)and felt more prepared after that. I can say now, that I can take a somewhat decent picture and have it look a little like what I am expecting. I am branching out. I have now found that it is actually the user of the camera and not the camera itself that creates magnificent art...a good user and a good lens. Man is that lens important. Who knew?! The lens just opens up a whole new world! Here I was obsessed with the totally wrong thing! I am now obsessed with the NIKKOR 18-200mm lens with vibration reduction and will soon bite the bullet and make the ridiculously pricey purchase...reluctantly but surely.