Reifel-ing through past hobbies

On December 25, 2010 I received a Canon Rebel T2i, the first DSLR camera I ever owned. Before that, in high school, I took a photography class and loved it. I still have fond memories of developing film in the dark room - a room I wanted to hang out in all day because of how cozy and quiet it was. I hope my school still teaches how to shoot on film, because the idea that my class may have been one of the last makes me a bit sad. Think of all the neurodivergent children who won't get to temporarily escape the florescent school lighting and learn the joy of the dark room!

Photography was how I connected with some of the people who played the largest roles in my life thus far. I still have a photo of someone taking a photo of me taking a photo of them on the first night of a queer youth conference. That person would then go on to be a partner of mine for 10 years.

I shot photos on that DSLR of when John and Hank Green came to the University of British Columbia in 2011, which I won tickets to from a radio show (I'm sure the odds were pretty high, I'd wager there weren't a lot of people listening to them who also lived in my small town who also listened to the radio). That was the first time I ever ventured into the city I would call home without parental supervision and had to navigate a transit system that involved more than 1 bus - unlike the bustling transit system where I grew up where the only bus was the one out of town.

I shot photos on that DSLR of my first trip outside of North America, my first Pride parade I attended as a young adult, birthdays, anniversaries, conventions, and so on. However, eventually, that T2i started falling behind as technology advanced, especially phone cameras.

Last year, I took a trip in the Summer to go surfing for the first time, and by that time I hadn't touched my camera in earnest in almost a decade. However, one of the friends I went with had their own camera and I was so excited to talk about photography again. At one point I asked why they went with a digital camera instead of a DSLR - to which they scoffed at the idea of getting a DSLR. Let me tell you, having been out of the game for so long, I was confused, so I did some digging that night. What I hadn't known was that in just one decade consumer-grade digital cameras surpassed DSLRs by a long shot.

Of course, going down that rabbit hole of research was dangerous. Just as dangerous as looking at the beautiful photos my friend had taken. Because it was something I missed...

So I caved and got a new camera.

As an adult, I was able to spend adult money and get the Canon R10 as well as a telephoto lens - something I had coveted as a teen - and a macro lens. I got these just a couple weeks before I was to go to Reifel Bird Sanctuary with a friend. I was pretty excited to test out the new camera, especially because digital cameras can shoot so much faster now, but most of my favourite shots are quite stationary.

Usually, my photos are just for me, I don't have a huge online social media presence as it stands, but I don't do any editing of my photos so they always felt unfinished to me. However, that same friend who reminded me of my love of the hobby also reminded me of the joy is sharing your favourite shots, and made me consider my own site as a means of doing do. Thus, I present, unedited: birbs (ft. trees).

A month later, I went on a hike with my new camera and got even more birbs!

To end on some newer shots, a couple months ago I went to the Butterfly Museum in Victoria and got to, for the first time, go shooting with my friend who got me back into one of my favourite hobbies.

I expect there will be more photo shoots in my future, and I do plan to share my favourites here.