The Apple and the Tree

I love taking pictures; I have since I was little. My father had a Minolta 35mm, back in the days when most people had Polaroids. When I was in my early teens, Dad got a new Minolta and blessed me with his old one. I was instantly smitten with being able to "capture the moment". In high school, he got me a newer, nicer Minolta, and I became the yearbook photographer. If you were to take a poll of most of my high school classmates, most of them probably can't remember my face because it was usually obscured by my camera. When I went to college, I started with a major in photography. I ended up with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, but photography was still a love, and I wanted to someday have my own darkroom. My first big present from my handsome hubby was a Nikon 2002 with a long lens; he understood my needs quite well. I loved that camera and fought bitterly against going digital, but the second time the Nikon needed repairs, I realized that I'd be better off spending the money on a new camera. So, five years ago, I bought a Fuji Finepix; at the time, it was a pretty darn good camera. I've shot well over 10,000 photos with it, and it was time. Time to get a bigger, better camera; an SLR with interchangeable lenses. Last week, I took the plunge and bought a Canon EOS Rebel XSi (which, by the way, is kicking my behind BIG time). Keeping with family tradition, I let the Bug Hunter have my Fuji. He's 9, and I know he won't be as responsible as I would like in keeping up with a nice camera. Still, I wanted to see what he'd do with it; here are his first pictures. Hmmm. It would seem that the apple really DOESN'T fall too far from the tree! (and yes, the flowers at the top of the post are his capture, too. Dang, he takes better pictures with that camera than I did!)