Guys, my husband.

I didn’t know what to title this post but I think that says it all. I hate to be the bragging type but I think that when something good is in your life you need to shout it from the rooftops. Being able to count your blessings makes it so much easier when it rains. I’ve shared the not so good on this blog so I think it is only fair that I also acknowledge the great.

OK, a little back story that many of you already know! In 2013, I received my first DSLR. A canon rebel T3i. I love/loved that camera. (Should I mention the amount of comments I use to get back in the day? Omgoodness, I was not aware at the time how very engaged the blogging world was!) Moving along, having my first DLSR taught me that I truly appreciate the art of photography and that this was something that I wanted to take seriously even if not professionally. So, I taught myself how to shoot in manual mode and learned that camera in and out. Ever since I received that camera I've done countless numbers of photo-shoots for my friends and family. It is a hobby that I’m so glad to have and my friends and family have benefited, ha! Sean might not say the same but this here is my blog ;).

For my birthday last year Sean’s gift to me was a photography course. Unfortunately a lot of it I already knew but I was still able to gain some knowledge which I truly appreciate. It was during that time that I realized that my camera does have some limitations so I told myself that I’d start saving for an upgrade. After Christmas last year, I started putting money away for my upgrade. I was not in any rush because I still had my camera which works perfectly fine.

A few weeks ago, I was telling Sean how much I had saved and that by April/May 2017 I will have the money saved to buy my camera. He walked into the office where I was on the computer and asked me to show him the camera. I did and he laughed and said, "Hmm, you might be saving longer than you think". I laughed back and said, 'Nope, my schedule says that I’ll have it by April/May 2017". And that was that.

He also asked me what I wanted for my birthday which is always so difficult to me (because I either want a gift card for home stuff or camera related items) but this time I said that a nice tan trench coat would do.

Last Friday evening, I’m downstairs in our family room when Sean returns home from work and he’s talking to me while he’s going up the stairs. He’s saying, "I think you deserve this gift because you’ve had such a hard year. With your health issue earlier this year and with the loss of your mom ... but you’ve handled yourself so well. You’re strong, you don’t complain and you are still the most positive person I know. I know that this gift will make you happy". By this time he is coming back down the stairs and in his hands he’s holding a box. I look at the box and was confused because they wouldn’t fold a trench coat in the type of box he’s holding.

He hands me the box and says to open it. I have a bit of a hard type opening it so he uses his keys to slice the tape. And when I open the box I gasp. I was so surprised that for a few seconds no words came out of my mouth. And he’s watching me while also recording my reaction (which thank God did not record, lol) and soon I’m screaming and freaking out. Tears are running down my face and I just could not believe it. He had bought me the camera; a Canon 6D! When I told my sister, Emma, she said, "Give Sean a million kisses for me but I’m not surprised". And you know what? I shouldn’t be surprised because Sean is the most thoughtful person I know but still, I was so surprised.

I could not wait to get the camera out the box and charged but decided that I would wait until the morning to play with it. Talk about restraint that I normally do not possess.

The following morning I was like a kid on Christmas morning, playing with a new toy. I'll end this post with the first shots, shot on my camera. I did all these shots in manual mode because that is the mode I prefer to shoot all my pictures. I still have some work to do with figuring out all the capabilities this camera has but I can already tell the difference and I’m so thrilled. I shot it in low light over the weekend and could not believe how well it captures images. I’m looking forward to using and learning this camera for years to come! Looking at those first images I shot on manual mode three years ago, I can't believe how far I've come. I hope that in three more years I'll see even more growth!











This camera finally allows me to have the background in focus and the front blurred!




Oh and if you’re curious about what I’m going to do with the money I saved, I’ve decided that I’ll continue to save until Sean’s birthday in February that way I can get him a bomb ass gift. Not sure what it will be yet but it’ll be good. He deserves it.