The crisp schtlicka of my Sony a6000’s shutter button may be the most satisfying sound ever created. Sure, it’s only a middle-grade mirrorless camera, and when I bought it I didn’t yet know what ISO meant, but I felt like an instant pro when I started snapping pictures.
It may have gone to my head just a little bit.
I decided it was time for a big-girl camera when my husband and I found out we got to go to Italy—Josh was selected by the K-State math department to travel to a 2-week summer graduate school in Cortona, a small city in Tuscany (where Under the Tuscan Sun is set, for any fans of Diane Lane).
Who knew being married to a mathematics graduate student could actually have its perks?
I’m a pretty avid picture-taker whenever I travel—hiking trails and old architecture are kind of my kryptonite—but I’ve pretty much outgrown the photographic limits of my iPhone.
For Italy, where I would have nothing but wine—sorry, time—on my hands to wander and take in the beauty while Josh was doing his math thing, I needed a real camera.
After much deliberation, research, and time spent talking myself into spending money, and talking Josh into talking me into spending money, and after test driving a lesser camera before returning to BestBuy a few weeks later to discover that cameras were on sale for $100…
Enter the Sony a5200 a6000, my new favorite toy.
The quickity-click schtlicka, the autofocus magic, the power!
Obviously, I couldn’t wait until I got to Italy to test things out. I dove in headfirst, taking courses online and soaking up all the knowledge I could about the wonderful world of photography.
(If anyone else is interested, I started watching Ben Long’s courses on Lynda.com (which I can access for free through my public library—get out and read, folks!). I’m sure I’d have learned more in a real, in-person class, but he’s pretty great for a virtual teacher).
The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. I fancied myself an artist, stalking the shabby mess that is our current home for photographic subjects.
Meet Gnom Osborne, Wily Watcher of the Bookshelf
Playing with aperture and focus at the front door.
Black and white can make anything look good.
Well, maybe not anything.
I think I told him to move because I was testing out shutter speed. (This is my husband, by the way. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to know that this is his first appearance on the blog.)
And yes, that is a stuffed horse in the background. Yes, you can sit on it.
No, we do not have kids.
I continued shooting sweet nothings as I learned more about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and all that good stuff—but I ran out of inspiration at my house pretty quickly (I mean, I live in Kansas, after all. Nebraska (home of Gnom Osborne) is clearly way more photogenic).
Anyway, I was antsy to take my camera home for the Fourth of July weekend.
It was there that my future in photography began to unfold, and where Backroads Brummer took root.
Author’s Note: This post was originally published on my former blog, backroadsbrummer.com, which no longer exists.
