Steppin Up to the Next Level

Poe studies the D70 quick guide

San grabs her eigth nap of the day
Saturday morning, on my way home from David & Apryl’s place, I stopped in at Penn Camera in Laurel, MD. This is the store where I buy 80% of my photo gear. I had to drop my Minolta Dimage 7i for a repair and a cleaning. The rubber piece around the viewfinder ripped and was only hanging on by a little bit. I have a service plan for the camera, so the repairs and cleaning won’t cost me anything. However, as the salesman was filling out the paper work and conversing with me, he informed me that it would be approximately three weeks until I would get the camera back. Three weeks! Three long weeks without a camera! Might as well remove my eyes for three weeks. I don’t go anywhere without my camera. It goes with me to work, to the store, to the gas station, to friend’s homes, to God's house on Sunday mornings… everywhere. I wouldn’t last three minutes without a camera let alone three weeks. The camera and I are one. The camera is integral to who I am. The camera is how I see and share the world around me. The camera is therapeutic to me. Those who know me well are surprised that my camera and I haven’t melded into one being of creative vision. A photographic Borg called F-stop of 8. Without a camera I would be suffering withdrawal in less than three minutes, let alone the jittery mess I would be in three weeks. What to do? Say forget it and glue the piece back on myself? No. It was now time. I had half the money saved and the credit card payed off. Why not? It is time to take the step to the next level.
“Could I see a Nikon D-70?” I asked the salesman.
“Sure,” he replied with a smile and he took one from the display case and put it in my hands. Fifteen minutes later I was walking out the door with my new digital SLR. I only bought the body, as I have three Nikon lenses at home that have been sitting in a box for over a year. They would soon see new life. The rainy Saturday afternoon turned into a day of reading the manual and playing with the new baby much to the annoyance of Poe and San. Sunday would be a day in Ellicott City shooting photos with Lynn and Will. All I can say right now is that I am in love. It's so very nice to have a full size SLR back in my hands and to be using my Nikon and Sigma lenses again. Photos will follow throughout the week. For right now enjoy these two images of Poe and San; the first images made with the new D-70. By the time I was finished shooting on Sunday I had filled a 256mb memory card with eighty images.