Anniversary Gift Reveal! (And a trip down memory lane)

The Mr. really outdid himself this year.

I mean he really, really outdid himself this year.

I waited 3 days for this to ship. What a nightmare! Picture: Personal

I will say--- the boy isn't ALWAYS so great with gifts. There may have been a Christmas where he actually *cough*didn't get me anything at all*cough cough* but man. This anniversary MORE than made up for it.

For a little while I had been talking about having wanted to upgrade my camera equipment. I have had a deep set interest in photography since I was a child and would sit with my great-grandmother all day looking through her albums upon albums of photos from all of her and my grandfather's cross-country trips. She was an artist, a painter, but was always known as the family shutterbug. My aunts and uncles were constantly diving behind couches and doors to escape her cameras while the younger kids were always more than prepared to ham up in front of the lens. I always found myself more interested though in what was behind the camera. Why was she turning the lens? What did all those buttons do? How did the pictures get from being in her camera to in front of us on paper? I was so so lucky to call this woman my grandmother. She influenced me in so many ways that still reflect on me today and I would not be the person I am today without her. I miss her all the time.

After she passed away a few years ago I was lucky enough to be passed down the entirety of her old equipment- an arsenal of Minolta SLRs and lenses dating back through the 90s and 80s. I immediately signed myself up for a darkroom photography class and learned all the basics of manipulating cameras and developing and editing photos. When I found out later that Sony Alpha digital SLRs could use all of my Grandma's lenses, the Mr. was amazing enough to help me get one. It wasn't perfect. I didn't have all of the bells and whistles a better brand had, but I was in still love! Unfortunately though, a rough experience shooting a wedding for a family member took a toll on me and I put the camera down for over a year.

Spring forward to a few months ago when I found myself perusing through B&H photo, camera blogs, and YouTube videos. It sparked something in me again and I started thinking that maybe I'd pick it up again. If I was going to do it though, I wanted to do it right and that meant upgrading to a camera that worked well with current automatic lenses, shoots HD video, has all the settings I needed, and other things that my Sony just didn't offer me. 

It was love at first sight! Photo: Personal

Thus came lots of research, a trip to NYC to B&H photo and ultimately a purchase of a Canon T4I with the 18-135mm kit lens upgrade, a 40mm "Pancake" lens, some filters and an extra battery PLUS the beautiful camera bag pictured below:

Photo courtesy of jototes.com. This is the Missy bag in Chocolate.

Expect to see more photos from me in coming entries! I am so, so, SO happy with all of this and it was WELL above and beyond ANYTHING I should have gotten for such an occasion. I fully admit that I am spoiled and I am so, so grateful for all of this. I cannot WAIT to get to using it all!