Back in 2017, maybe 2018, my trusty Nikon d7000 kicked the bucket. I loved that camera. It traveled all over with me for years. Dunked, dropped, and all the other ways you can abuse a piece of photo equipment on fishing trips. It was a tank and I loved it. After it stopped powering up or focusing or doing generally anything a camera should do, I put it in a box with the few lenses I’d accumulated and started using my phone to shoot with. Honestly, I got some cool shots but a phone’s camera is just one limited arrow in the quiver that is photography.
I started getting the itch to get back into a camera a few years ago, but never jumped on it. I’d look and realized what I wanted was too expensive and I always had other bills to pay. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I was looking at cameras and dreaming, when my wife said, “Just buy it. You’ve been talking about it for ages” So I put a Canon R6 Mark II in my cart. I grabbed the RF24-105mm f4 lens and then saw that a refurbished RF24mm f1.8 macro lens was available at a great price and snagged that as well.
I’m still learning the camera. It’s a big change from Nikon to Canon. Honestly, I think it wouldn’t matter if I stayed with Nikon. The technology has come so far that these things are packed deep with enough options that no matter the camera, you’ll need a doctorate to use them well.
In the early 90’s, my grandfather found out I was getting into photography and started sending me his collection of photography books. He and his brother had been photographers in the military. He’d always keep a subscription for me all through high school of “Popular Photography”. He lived a thousand miles away and I think this was his way of staying a part of my life. As an adult, I wish I’d showed more appreciation for it. I guess that’s part of life.
I had a newspaper route and I saved up and bought one of the original Canon EOS Rebels. I loved it. Still have it actually. Somewhere in a box of things you collect in life. I sometimes miss the old simplicity of a film camera. I miss dark rooms. I miss that feeling of discovery as a photo came to life in that old smelly development tank. That was magic. That hooked me and I spent hours learning to make photos appear on paper.
Then came digital. I was against it because it was new. I’m always against the new. Just part of my makeup, I guess. When I finally got a digital camera, it was some junky point and shoot. The images were trash but I started liking being able to take way more shots than any roll of film could supply. It was cheaper and I was broke. I got away from photography and writing for years. I ended up living across the parking lot from a weird tattooed guy with a modified Subaru and being a weird tattooed guy with a modified Subaru myself, it must have been fate. Turned out he was a photographer and when I told him I used to play around with photography, he handed me a camera and said I could borrow it until I got my own. Without him, I’m not sure I’d have ever gotten back into taking photos. I never would have been published or had covers of magazines without him nudging me to grab a camera. You can find his work here: https://www.jjacobsphotography.com/ or on the gram at https://www.instagram.com/jeremy_jalopies/
So this Sunday, my buddy Adam and I drove up to a river and grinded for several miles in a raft with winds blowing upstream. We caught some dinks. I lost two monsters that blew up on poppers and put a bend in the old eight weight. The water was low and slow. We knew it would be gin clear as we’ve been without rain for ages. Still, hope floats.
I took a couple photos during the trip. I had to get over the fear of taking a few grand into the boat with me. Thank God for waterproof dry bags.
As an aside, I love that a raft, when somewhat deflated, fits perfectly into my truck bed. Makes running shuttle at the end of the day a breeze. Who knew?
