The Joy of Digital...

In '06 I bought a Canon Digital Rebel.. I had no idea how that would change my life but it did. I bought the camera to capture photos of my daughter horseback riding, (show days are very long..)

After a few months I had thousands of photos... now what?  I found a digital scrapbooking site.. interesting.. traditional scrapbooking without the mess, fuss or expense.  Photo albums that tell stories... perfect! 














Over a couple of years I "met" and became friends with some women and men across the country.  We got to know each other reasonably well, what with looking at each others family photos and stories on a daily basis.  Friendships were formed, emails exchanged, phone calls made.. all with promises that one day we would "meet in real life"..... 

Then I joined a local photo club, the Hampton Roads Digital Photography Club.

 

Shortly after a women named Lauren joined, gee she looks familiar...turns out we had been talking on the site for over a year. We see each other about twice a month now & stay caught up.

Somewhere on the DSP site someone posted something about photography workshops... I like to travel. I like to learn, I like to take pictures... could be fun. My first workshop was with Bryan Peterson, author of Understanding Exposure. 































I excitedly told my friends Carolyn and Carolyn from Canada & RI about it.  They liked the idea too. Carolyn (from RI) and I quickly signed up for a workshop, roomed together and off to conquer Acadia Maine we went. A life long friendship was born, we so "get each other".. we were made to be friends.. 

We still needed to get together with Carolyn from Canada though...

so the following May, off to Cape Cod we went to another workshop or photography summer camp as we call them... We gave Bryan a run for his money.. he would just look at us and shake his head and keep on teaching..(when he wasn't laughing..) two days into the trip I discovered that John was yet another person I knew from the scrapping site..

Carolyn (from Canada) and I email back and forth frequently and I became acquainted with her sister Lucille thru the wonders of the internet and we too would email back and forth about camera equipment and travels etc.  
















Tonight as Carolyn & Lucille travel on a extended cross country car journey with their husbands visiting the finest the US has to offer, they stopped in Williamsburg.  We had a 3 /12 hour dinner together this evening, I finally met Lucille, and caught up with Carolyn.  I didn't realize how much I missed her until I saw her.. it was a good five minutes before anyone could get thru the doors at Outback as we hugged and cried..

Funny how a little black box I bought to capture moments has changed my life.  I have friends all across the country that I travel with frequently, formed lifelong friendships with folks at my camera club, workshops and newspaper site, and my life is so much richer for it.  I am grateful. Grateful to Gene for his patience with my "hobby", always keeping me in the latest Canon gear and letting his "carry on" be my other camera bag, and for the digital age in general.  


So go ahead.. snap away, enjoy! You never know where it will lead... for me.. I have a guest room with my name on it in Canada I intend to use soon!