Buy it!

While at my parent's house last weekend, I noticed my mom's pictures of her grandkids were woefully out of date. My mom has lots of pictures everywhere and I know it makes her miss us just a little less seeing smiling faces of those she loves. She even had some empty picture frames waiting for updated pictures. As the family photographer (a position paid highly in compliments only), it is my responsibility to get current pictures to my mom. I upload them to the Oly  Costco and she and my dad have a hot date night and go pick them up. It works out great because then they pay for the printing on their end and they get to have a Polish hot dog for $1.50. What is it I get out of this deal? Not a Polish hot dog, but the satisfaction and pride of having my own private photo gallery on display in Oly, WA. So, I have plenty of pictures to send of my kids, but no recent ones of my nephews. I met up with my sister and her sons this week to capture some images for grandma.

Usually 4 year olds are pretty easy to photograph -- by easy I mean compared to a 16 month who runs off or a 2 year old who has tantrums every 3 minutes. Benton is great, but my camera was acting up and that was frustrating and freaking me out. I took about 20 pictures and then the camera refused to let me take more. It was like my worst nightmare coming true. The digital display would come on and off and then just stay on, but frozen. I have nightmares about photography sessions all the time. After fussing with it, I decided to charge the battery. It charged back up immediately, but the latch on the battery door seemed loose. The computer screen continued to act weird too.

With 2 attempts at photos, I did manage to get pictures of both Benton and Nathaniel that their grandmother will appreciate. But my camera was bothering me greatly. I called my business manager (my husband, the administrative brains of this operation) and I explained how the camera was acting. He suggested I call to get an estimate on getting it fixed and then depending on how much it was going to cost maybe we should just buy the new camera I've been drooling over.

She's a pretty thing isn't she? I'm referring to the Canon 50D and I really want this camera. It is not in the budget to buy such a luxury at this time, so I was shocked and very excited when my business manager said, "Buy it!" Okay, so he didn't actually say it like that, but that's what I chose to hear. I should have got it is writing though because when we got home I did a little research and discovered my camera was not on its last leg. The battery needs replacing and my business manager, also my camera repair man, fixed the faulty door for the battery that was causing a bad connection. Now I have no need to have nightmares about my camera suddenly not working during a photo shoot, especially since this malfunction happened with non-paying customers (Sure hope my sister doesn't give me a bad review). On the down side, I have to wait awhile longer for my dream camera. Sigh.