Where does your camera live?

As a scrapbooker, it's important that i don't miss ANYTHING that needs to be documented in life - especially when it comes to Calvin. It's so hard to believe that he's nearly 2!! I feel that i've done a really good job with photography so far this year. It may not all be first class, but i've got photos of most of the important things that have been going on in our lives.

I set myself a little personal goal this year - i wanted to take at least one photo each week on my SLR. My SLR may seem like nothing special, but it's pretty special to me. It's something that we really couldn't afford to buy, but i wanted for so long. When my dad got a new digital SLR a year or two ago, he knew that, so he passed on his old one to me. It's a Nikon D70 (yup, you read that right - just one '0'. I think they are up to three now LOL). It's basic, but it's digital. The screen is difficult to see, so i have to wait until i get my photos on my computer to see how the photos turn out, but i'm finding that isn't the worst thing in the world - it means that i get my photos on my computer really quickly!!

I've (so far) managed to achieve my personal goal - even more than once a week i'd say!! How do i do this? I've found it's all about where my camera lives!! The hub of my house is my kitchen, so that's where i now keep my camera!! I keep it with the standard wide angle lens on it - i only have one other lens (a telescopic lens) and it really only comes out on 'special' occasions - when we go out and i'm trying to get photos of Calvin playing on play equipment ages away or something fun like that.

It's a pretty weird place to keep an SLR - and it's definately dangerous, since all sorts of things go down in the kitchen - it's right next to the kettle for goodness sake!! But the beauty of my SLR is that it's like 10 years old, so if something happened to it, i wouldn't be devestated! It would be sad, but really it's only a matter of time before something goes wrong with it anyway!!

It's allowed me to get some fabulous photos of everyday life, like Calvin 'doing the dishes' last week:

Or him sitting down with the K-mart toy catalogue (he was pestering me in the kitchen, so i gave it to him and said 'here, go sit on your couch and read this' - and wouldn't you know it, he did!!! So cute!!!)

Or Calvin putting his massive toy bear on Napoleon while he was faaaassst asleep - and it was still there half an hour later!!!

The most exciting thing about my success in using my SLR so much more this year, is that i'm going to get so many lovely photos of my little girl when she joins us in the next few weeks. Though i had the SLR when Calvin came along, i was unpracticed in using it, so i immediately went to my point and shoot!! This time around, i'll be grabbing the SLR first thing - in fact, it will be one of the first things in my hospital bag :D