Something to love

I must say, I love photography.

For several years (maybe longer) Danny has been telling me to "get a hobby." Not in a mean way, but he's been bugging me to find something that I love to do that I can do on my own. He's constantly on the computer or TV playing games with his brothers and friends back home, and this is what he considers his hobby. I don't mind, as long as it doesn't consume every waking moment of his life (the way it used to ... aherm...)

Well as most of you know, a year and something ago Danny got me a nice digital camera. Nothing super special, just a point and shoot camera that puts out much better quality images than the one I had previously, that I hated. It took like ten minutes to click out one photo, and hardly ever focused right! Anywho pretty soon he showed me how to use it, how to change the settings, macro, and so on. I started taking that little thing with me everywhere, to work, to the commissary, shopping at the 100yen store (see previous post). . . and soon I was buying and reading photography magazines. I kept asking, "What do they mean set the shutter speed, I can't find that setting on my camera!" and so on (I know, seriously I didn't know anything about cameras, so call me blonde...). Soon to discover that I didn't have the right kind of camera at all!

Well this past Valentines Day Danny got me a new camera. A CANON Digital Rebel XSI 12.2 mp. It didn't get here until March, but it was worth the wait. 3,000 photographs later, I might be getting a handle on my camera, and am already discovering the limitations of my lens. *hint hint*

I can't believe how quickly and unconditionally I've fallen in love with photography. Even when I come back from shooting somewhere or something or someone and have no good photos to show for it, I still love the experience I had trying to capture that something special about my subject. It's good that I come back with horrible shots sometimes, it just means there is more to learn and I can't wait to uncover the beauty of photography I've yet to discover.

So the meaning of this post, I've decided through much encouragement of my friends around Kadena to start offering my services to friends and families around Okinawa. I won't promise any wonderful shots, but I will promise to put my heart into all my work.

So here's to it - Charming Memories (or Memorias Encantadoras) photography by Vanessa Sanoja

http://charmingmemoriesphotography.blogspot.com/