It’s been seven hours and fifteen days…plus another eleven years since I last wrote a photography blog. And it’s been sixteen years between the time I bought my very first Canon Digital Rebel to my recent Cyber Monday purchase of a new Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera.
I wouldn’t call it a new year’s resolution per se, but I rediscovered my passion for photography last August on an amazing trip to Venice. Walking 20,000+ steps a day around the lagoon city with only my iPhone 8 Plus in hand made traveling light, but the quality and creativity are just not quite there with a camera phone. Don’t get me wrong, you can take some amazing photos and videos with an iPhone, but as a recent photographer blogger said, “an iPhone is not a camera.”
The colorful island of Burano in Venice. Shot with an iPhone 8 Plus in August 2019. So…is an iPhone a camera?
So after returning from Venice, I vowed to purchase my first new camera since 2003. My fellow Salesforce shutterbug Antonio had the great idea to set Black Friday as my goal to finally pull the trigger. After watching scores of YouTube reviews and holding the likes of the Sony A7 III and Nikon Z6 in my hands, I took a leap of faith and clicked to purchase from Adorama on Cyber Monday.
Did I make the right call? It’s been a little over a month and I’ve had limited time to get to know - and use - the camera to make a full fledged verdict. I’m definitely struggling to learn all the options for focusing. And my new best friend, Jared Polin, a.k.a. “The Fro” will tell you that Sony is the right decision over Nikon. But when I had both cameras in my hand, the ergonomics of the Nikon were so much better that I had a hard time imagining having fun holding and using the Sony. I’ll have more to say about this decision in another future blog post.
One of my best first shots using the Nikon Z6 at a Shawl Anderson dance performance in December 2019.
Did I say more blog posts? Yes! In addition to writing about photography, I’m also in the (somewhat painful) process of building a photography Website! I’ve decided to go with Squarespace based on it’s apparent ease and flexibility to build a site to suit your heart’s content. But I have not been content. I can’t quite get its gallery and navigation to work the way I want. But the customer service at Squarespace has been really impressive as they’ve been trying to help me along the way. So stay tuned for the launch of the site.
In the meantime, I plan to continue to fuel that photography passion which was reignited in Venice to make 2020 all about taking my photography to the next level. And I’m hoping you’ll accompany me on this journey along the way.