The "term dark ages" means way way back when there were darkrooms.

It's no big secret, I am going to be 40 this year. 4. OH! Yep, it is true. Well, and not even really this "year." It is actually next month. And I am not a grumpy birthday girl. I'm really not. And this year as everyone else (mainly my parents, brother and younger husband) were all freaking out that I was going to be 40 I continued to insist it is really not a big deal. Puh-lease, it is just a number. Right? Well, as the days get a bit closer, I've been getting a bit more antsy. Kinda irritable. A little mid-life crisis-ish, one might say?

Well, my parents really wanted to get me a super-nice gift this year, and even though I kept thinking about how much I would LOVE and really NEED a DSLR to be a decent art director, parent and let's face it, creative human being, I couldn't stand the idea of how much those cameras cost. Think of everything you could have instead? And yet, I couldn't go one more day, right!?

Being that I am turning 40 it is obvious I grew up in the dark ages. And that means back when there were darkrooms. And yes, I spent quite a bit of time inside of one or two of those. I can still remember the sunny days lost spent inhaling chemicals in the darkness, with entire rolls of film underdeveloped and streaky, drippy photo paper highlighting every flaw in every photo shot. I know, I am supposed to say that's when I fell in love with photography, but it isn't. I never had the patience for the darkroom.

It was when I was out shooting that I loved photography. My dad would chauffer me from one Kansas City landmark to the next, sneaking down to the banks of the Missouri River, capturing one barge after another. Understanding composition, lighting, and mastering the techinicalities of my old Minolta...film and all.

So, it is fortunate for me that the new digital cameras have taken the dark room out of photography, and here I am, as of today, back in business! I am armed with my new camera, and I am ready to go! I can't wait to start creating, to get that piece of me back again. I hope to share my photos and what I hope I'll learn as I go.

I've been borrowing a very kind friend's DSLR for the past several weeks, and had a chance to get my feet wet. I already shared a couple of my Gracie photos here, but I will post them again: