July, 2010:  Arrive at girlfriends rehearsal dinner.
Frame up first shot. 
Press shutter button. 
WHAM!

A wave of emotion washes over me as  I realized  my little Canon AE2000 took a dump!  The second point and shoot in two years. The first being a Kodak Easyshare.  Of course, the Canon warranty expired three days prior.  Embarrassed?  Uh, can I borrow your camera?  I'm the photographer!  I muddled through the day and my friend was happy.

 

  Not that the Canon Corporation would give two flips about little ole me being mortified, I had to write and let them how disappointed I was in their product.  You know what they say about unhappy customers! 

Before the horror of that day, it had been my plan to purchase a DSLR.  I am a person with limited funds and if I can't pay cash, I wait.  This is not because I am a highly disciplined individual.  This is because I had a track record of picking losers who I allowed to leave me with  ton of debt (which I am paying off).  

October 2010:  Three months with no camera.  I arrive home to find my honey (no more losers!) has picked up an interim camera.  Nikon Coolpix.  He knows I love taking pictures and felt bad that I didn't have a camera. 

 

December 2010:   Shellie's (the wedding catastrophe) husband works at Wally World and gets a discount.  We were going to go there because of the discount, but the possibility of dealing with a kid who knows less about a subject than I do scares me.  So, yesterday my Christmas bonuses, my honey and I went to Wolfe Camera in Sarasota.  Katherine, our salesperson, was great.   She was patient and I had fun talking to her.  We decided on the Nikon D3100.  It fits our budget and it's not a Canon or a Kodak.  I mean no disrespect to fans of these two manufacturers.  Point and shoots are what they are I guess, but a couple hundred dollars down the drain is a big deal to me.   Plus I get 16 free classes at Wolfe! 

Like I said, this is my passion.  My dream is to make a meager living, doing what I love.  Tim and I are both simple people.  I truly believe that you can't work hard all your life and not get a break.  The same goes for Tim.  His talent and passion is building bikes.   The picture up top there is his creation.  We saved and bought a beat up, rusty Sportster.  It took about a year but he put together a sweet little ride.

It's for sale!!!!

Unless we hit the lottery or that one big break comes, we are stuck reporting each day to our respective jobs.  I can only refer to mine as the Festering Pit of Despair.

Timmy needs a new project and I need Photoshop.

The photo to the left is my Sporty.  My honey built this one too.  This shot was taken with my new Nikon D3100.  I went out early this morning to play.  She is sitting in front of The Gator Club here in Sarasota.