Camera (and) Bugs

Last weekend I received a text message from Sarah that I found interesting. She asked me if I would consider letting her use my camera. While I'm not keen on lending something like that to someone that really had no clue as to how to use it, I was intrigued at the notion that she was interested in it. Suzie and I were already starting our trip around the peninsula at that time though, so I couldn't have lent it to her anyway. Apparently, she and one of her friends had recently had some fun experience with a similar camera somewhere taking pictures of things in tide pools with the long zoom lens and her creative nature had been tickled.

But it got me to thinking--I still hadn't figured out what to get her for a graduation present. Could this be it? The more I thought about it, the more I decided that it could be exactly what I was looking for. After all, she is very creative and a superb artist, so adding photography to that sort of brain activity seemed like a perfect fit.

After discussing it with Suzie I went on the offensive--Perusing Ebay, Craigslist, and anywhere online that I might find a deal. After much looking, I found the perfect setup for only $415. It was the same exact model of Canon that I have (the 350D or XT as it's also known), and came with the 75-300 zoom in addition to the standard lens. Also included were extras like an additional battery and a few nice filters. It was owned by someone that kept very good care of it, and it was in a lot better condition than mine. It also included all the paperwork, manuals, and computer cable even. It was a great deal! The only thing missing was a bag to put it in, and Suzie had graciously decided to give up her beautiful camera case. She said she had been wanting a different one. "Besides," she said, "it matches Sarah's laptop bag!"

I bought it on Ebay using a Buy it Now option, but it was actually a local seller up here in Friday Harbor. It showed up at work Friday just as I was leaving. Perfect! After going over all of the goodies with Suz when I got home, we pondered how and when to present it to Sarah. We decided to ask her if she wanted to go hiking with us. She had signed up to go on a hike this fall with other college newbies from PLU as a sort of welcoming activity, so I figured she'd like to maybe get herself reacquainted with hiking. None of us are real hikers after all, so a refresher is always good. We decided to hike to Sheep Lake right up next to Mount Rainier. Sue and I had gone there last year, it was pretty good and afforded lots of photo ops. When I asked Sarah Friday if she wanted to go with us on Saturday morning, she said yes.

Saturday got off to a slow start which was good. Enjoying my coffee au naturale in the morning sun of my "new" backyard is killer! It's such a garden setting. As a matter of fact, I'll probably head out there again shortly to enjoy this morning the same way. Anyway, back to yesterday: Steve came over mid morning and visited for a while. He had come to buy Moana. Yes, she now has a new owner. It was only right--I no longer had an empty foyer/entryway to put her in anyway. Steve has been after her for a long time. "You ready to sell her yet?"

When Sarah came over it was almost lunchtime and getting to be a pretty warm day. She was clearly surprised when we presented the camera outfit to her. Probably also quite overwhelmed. We were both hurling camera and photography jargon at her at a rapid pace.

She didn't fiddle with it much during the 1.5 hour ride to the top of Chinook Pass that I noticed. When we got to the destination and actually started hiking she was still slow to get going. Unfortunately, we had picked a very warm day, and it was also very buggy. Honestly, we were all so sick of being bitten and were so tired of swatting deer flies and mosquitoes that none of us were having a very good time on the way up. Add to that the fact that I'm out of shape and carrying a heavy pack (it was mostly the water in it), and it was not a very fun hike in. I kept having to stop and catch my breath, and when I did I just got bothered to death by bugs.

When we got to the end and were all enjoying the Sheep Lake setting before us, Sarah started to get into it. She was busily taking pictures of flowers, jay birds, and everything else. Our hike out was much better than it was the other way because it was downhill and cooler by then. We made another stop down the road a little ways for more photos, and that's where I heard the phrase that was music to my ears. After just arriving, we were still sitting in the car waiting for Suzie to come out of the bathroom when Sarah said, "I've been wanting a camera like this for a long time."

That made my day! I didn't tell Sue she had said that until later last night when Sarah left, but she was also very glad. After all, we both love taking pictures and it's very cool when we can share the love of it with someone else.

We shared our ritual with her after we got home too. Downloading all our pictures onto our computers and playing show and tell. Naturally we started with Sarah's pictures. She got to see how we "oooh and ahh" over the great ones, "eww, that sucks" over the really bad ones, and ponder how others could have really popped if this or that was different, or how if this or that was cropped out how much better it would be. Basically, we critique and praise our pictures every time we get home from a photo outing. It's our favorite thing.

The bottom line: Sarah took some really interesting shots. While she didn't take nearly as many as Suzie and I did, she is clearly on a good path to a fun hobby. She also mentioned when we were coming home that there was still a bunch of photography books in the basement on their bookshelf. I explained that those were all mine and that I had learned a lot about photography by perusing them. It's clear that we chose the right gift.

She loved it.