I feel like a photographer again

I feel like a photographer again
Originally uploaded by Dave Traynor

I bought myself a new camera - a Nikon D90. That's a picture of it on the right, courtesy of Nikon. (Click on the photo to see a larger image at my Flickr site.) I didn't realize how much I missed using a SLR until now. I knew that using a smaller digital camera wasn't the same as a SLR (I used to have Minolta film cameras, with a large range of lenses.) But since I switched to digital cameras, about 3 or 4 years ago, I've been using a Nikon Coolpix 5000. It was a great camera for its time, but that time was about seven years ago and it was showing its age.

I've been considering a new camera for awhile but I hemmed and hawed over Nikon or Canon, what model, what kind of lens, etc. Usually, I think about it, get ready to make a decision, then just put it off for awhile, which meant that I've just been missing out on a photographer. But after the Northern Voice conference in February, I decided to solve two problems with one solution. I wanted to take more photos and I wanted to increase my blogging. So I decided to start the 1aDay project.

I've been publishing at least a picture every day to my Flickr account and writing a blog post about it. So far, it's worked very well. I started carrying my camera around with me again and I've enjoyed making some nice photos. I've also come up with some topics that I wouldn't have written about otherwise. But as the month went by, the urge to upgrade my camera kept growing.

So on Friday, I asked my Facebook friends what they'd recommend and got a lot of good suggestions - many too expensive for my budget, but all good ideas. It was my wife, Heather, who finally convinced me to just go ahead and get the one I wanted. I realized that I had already made up my mind - so I went out and bought the Nikon D-90. It's a nice camera - not the top of the line, but a long, long way from my older 5000. It will be fun to keep shooting and posting some of the results here. I expect you'll be hearing more about my progress as we roll along. Please feel free to add your comments here or on my Flickr site.