I Bought a Camera - Brooke Ignet Hocker

I have always wanted to have a nice camera. You know, the fancy kind where you change the lens and have a cool bag and you just-so-happen to be at the right place at the right time and capture amazing moments in life. But when the iphone’s photo capabilities kept increasing, I always found an excuse not to buy one. I also had no idea which kind to buy. Also, they’re expensive, and they feel even more expensive when you realize there’s a million different models you can buy and you may just sink $800 into the “wrong” one.

I told Chris that I love telling stories through words and I feel like I could also tell stories with photos. So I started researching cameras online and found a blog that shared the top 10 DSLR cameras for beginners. I ended up finding one that seemed to be like a good choice based on reviews and I reserved it on Borrow Lenses which is a website where you can rent camera equipment. I thought I’d rent a camera for a week to see if I liked it and to determine if that is the model I actually wanted to buy. Fortunately, a coworker brought in her camera and let me borrow it (hooray!) in the meantime so I cancelled the rental and spent a couple days playing with her camera . . . and quickly realized I “needed” to buy one.

I bought a Canon Rebel T6i. I’m no expert — like, not even close, and this isn’t even the latest Canon Rebel model available, but after chatting with the guy at Best Buy (who happened to be a photographer), doing a little research online, and comparing the features/cost of others, that’s the one I landed on.

I’m so excited about it! At this point (1 day in), I know how to turn it on, change basic settings, do a self-timer, get photos off the memory card . . . and that’s about it. Oh, I know how to charge the battery too. I’m looking forward to learning more.

My hope is to find unique moments in life that may have otherwise been missed and use that as a way to tell a story/incorporate those photos into my writing. Here’s to hoping this blog gets full of beautiful photos in the future.

In the meantime . . . please enjoy what I call “playing with all the settings” . . .

Took this photo in our front room