Caught the bug

I am a young college student. Last quarter I took a photography class basically because I needed the units. It sounded like a fun class. What I didn't know was that I would become hooked. It was a Beginning Photo class so we used manual SLR cameras. I am talking about the 35mm cameras and black and white film. I rented a camera from school so I got an awesome Nikon FM2 that I absolutely fell in love with. At the end of the quarter I didn't want to give it back.

Around Thanksgiving my Dad got out his old Minolta SRT101 from the 1970s (before I was even born). It was broken and dusty and hadn't been used since 1990. It had the seriously hideous carrying case with green velvet interiors and a solid leather exterior. It was love at first site. I spent the whole night cleaning all of the lenses and the next day we took it to a repair shop in downtown Claremont (in Southern California) called Claremont Photo and Video and sent it in for repairs. It cost more money to repair it then it would cost to buy one off ebay, but I was already in love with that baby.

Then on December 23, they called. My camera (technically my dad's could be picked up). So on Christmas eve I went to pick up the camera with my mom and spent a leisurely day in Downtown Claremont (one of my favorite cities to spend the day in). I took a bunch of pictures on Christmas Day and then the next day we went to visit my Grandma in Carlsbad, CA. So I went to the beach and took some photos and I think some will come out really amazing. (I only wish I had used the skylight filter).
And yesterday, after much thought I bought a DSLR. It is the Nikon D3000. It is shipping here as we speek and I cannot contain myself. I have literally driven my mom insane talking about that camera. I know that it is an entry level DSLR, but it is all I can afford right now (and I just don't think I can wait any longer). Buying a less expensive camera means that I can buy more lenses and more expensive lenses.

But I have officially caught the bug (and I haven't even mentioned that we are going to build a darkroom in the garage. I am soooo excited. Soon I can really play with my film).