It Never Fails....

I'm coming to the realization that I am my own worst enemy. Lately, many of my thoughts have revolved around what direction I want to be headed in. Not just career, but life's purpose. What will make me happy. I have figured out I have to have a creative outlet. Photography has been filing that void lately. I hadn't thought about why or where, but I am just doing and enjoying.

Unfortunately, here comes the logical side of my brain mixed with the seed of doubt that is trying to ruin the fun. It really never fails and I know I must have had some voice, in the form of a parent or a teacher, at some point in my life telling me why I can't and shouldn't. And, I'm finally realizing this is not my voice and I can tell it to shut up! I have been doing a lot of reading on the subject and of people that are successful at being creative. I just need to keep pushing on and shutting down that voice that asks why I would even try and that there are a million other people out there that are better than me. But really, who cares if there are. That means I have a million people to learn from.

And since pictures are where it's at here are a few of the latest from this morning. The first could be titled "What happens when you leave your camera in the hands of your 7-year-old". I was talking with a friend and had taken a few pictures of the girls so I checked the camera when I got home and found this first one. Love it!

This is one I took while waiting for my friend to arrive:

And one more I took after I told the girls they look so pretty even when they aren't smiling and they decided to make serious faces the rest of the morning:

As they say: Just keep swimming.....

New camera?

Well, so I won't be using the camera much longer and now I have a choice of just not taking pictures or buying a good DSLR of my own. And, we will be going on vacation in a little over 2 weeks so do I go ahead and buy the new camera now? I think I've figured out which one I want, the Canon Digital Rebel XT. It has great reviews and I can pick one up under $500 all day long. So, do I want to shell out the money and have the camera for the cruise is the question? I need to make a decision and will be pondering that over the next week since I need to order one very soon if I decide to buy used or online.

Until then, here are some new photos. The first was taken in the school's garden. Again, since we have had 100+ temperatures nearly every day over the past month or so many of the flowers have died off but this is a pretty little yellow one with beautiful coloring:

One of the few here that still looks good. Most are on the way out:

A pretty cone flower that was in my garden but has since kicked the bucket:

I had to do a little editing on these. This is my BIL, Marcus and this whole scene just screams vintage look so vintage editing it is:

and one more shot with the vintage type screen edited in Picnik:

This shot was actually taken by our cheap point and shoot Sony digital but it was such a cool shot I had to edit it and include it. We found this bike sitting outside of a little strip of shops close to downtown Dallas:

This is the runner up on a shot I did for the MCP project 52 with the theme: Sweet Relief. The other shot that I chose to submit can be seen here. I didn't get chosen still as one of the top 10 but I did get some encouraging comments. That makes me feel like I at least am learning each week.

I may be getting my hands on Photoshop for free so that is really exciting. It makes the thought of shelling out the money for a nicer camera that much easier but still, I'm pretty frugal so I need to be sure this is something I will be getting my money's worth with so I am still a bit hesitant. I know this would be easy for most people but I just can't go out and spend money without thinking about it. I have to be absolutely certain that I will not have buyer's remorse. Right now, I'm about 70% on the side of buying one but will be adding a new post here when I make my final decision.