ELEVEN DAYS TO CHRISTMAS!! And I bought… A Camera

Papa-paparazzi…
It’s Christmas, a season where people buy each other presents. Here at L&A we like to do things a little differently and we went ahead and bought ourselves something instead, just because.
Normally I’m the one in the relationship who buys things without thinking. I remember walking into the ukulele shop in East London thinking I liked the sound the instrument made. I walked out (to Jason’s horror) with a super expensive but stunning red ukulele. I had also on a whim bought a tuner. And a whole load of music books. And signed up for classes. Ahem.
Anyway, usually Jason is the one who will literally spend weeks (months?) deliberating on the perfect purchase. Currently his obsession is boardgames and he will spend hours reading up on the comments on a game as well as watching tutorials before he attempts to buy anything. However, on this one occasion, his good habits must have rubbed off on me.
For years I have been toying with the idea of getting a proper camera. In Japan I lived next to a lady who owned various cameras and wherever I went, she came too. So although I always thought Japan would be a stunning country to photograph, I let her do all the hard work. Then as a journalist I wanted to carry as little around with me as possible, as I would often have to lug around a heavy tripod and various pieces of luggage for hours on end. I do think back now and wonder why I didn’t just do it, get a camera and practice, as I saw some amazing things while we were out on location.
Now we are in Berlin, a city full of graffiti and booming with artists. Everywhere I look I see people with cameras, snapping away at famous sites. And I want in on the action. This time I didn’t want to buy the cutest camera or choose one for its colour. [I will let you in on a secret here, the only reason I bought my previous camera was because it was pink. And come to think of it the same happened when I saw a purple laptop and my stunning red bike, but I digress…]
This needed to be a good camera. I was all over the internet, doing what other people seem to do. I was reading reviews, asking people who enjoy taking photos what they recommended and I generally spent months researching. But I found it. Or her. Or him. I’m not sure what to name the camera yet, or even what sex it will be yet, but I’m looking forward to finding out. In case you were wondering, my ukulele is a lady and my bicycle is a man but once again, I digress…
It’s a Nikon D3100 for those in the know. It seems to be the best SLR for beginners and we have been playing with it. I love our little blog, but sometimes I am sad that the photos are lacking in a certain way. Now I hope you will enjoy the photo quality more and this will make the blog an even nicer place for you all. The photos of our poodle were from the new camera and hopefully I will not complain about lugging it around and take some photos for you to enjoy. Let’s hope this is a new hobby that sticks around! And I also hope you all go out and buy yourselves a lovely Christmas present this year, as you definitely deserve it!