Halloween Challenge: Let There Be Fright

Hi Everyone!

While we were all out on our two week hiatus from the blog I issued out a challenge you've probably already read about. Each of us had to find something that scared us, and then go out and actually do it.

While two weeks is hardly the time to scramble the money it would take to go shark diving or jumping out of a perfectly good airplane it was just enough time to delve into our own darkness and come back up.

For some of us it meant sucking it up and admitting our passion. By announcing to the world "I want to be a writer.", or "I want to be an artist." we have charged ourselves with the duty of fulfilling these titles.

Something that I think we can each attest to is our own procrastination. Several years ago I ran into a friend from high school and we began swapping "what-are-you-up-to"'s and "where-are-you-now"'s. I told him that I was looking at moving into an apartment above a local restaurant. "Yeah. You said that last time I saw you. Two years ago." It was a slap in the face. I had forgotten that I mentioned it to him years ago- my finally getting a place of my own! I had thought about it, and thought about it, and when my brain was hurting I thought about it some more. I had thought the idea into the ground, but had taken no action towards it.

This tends to be the way of it. A brilliant idea will burn brightly and attract others to its warmth and brilliance. If it is contained too long, the fire will go out. If it is not contained at all, it will burn down everything around it.

Thursday I, with trembling hands, surrendered my fate to The Gods of Credit and purchased a new camera. A Nikon D3000 to be specific. I have loved Nikons since college and have always wanted a nice DSLR to 'play' with. I wanted one, and thought about taking the plunge and purchasing one many times. I'd thought about it, and thought about it, and thought about it some more. But never had the kick in the pants I needed to actually go to the store. When my very nice point and shoot camera had finally met it's end I knew it was time to upgrade. While being in debt is something that absolutely scares me to death, and really keeps me awake at night, I knew that I had to buy a new camera.

I keep telling myself that it's an investment and not a splurge. I can now go out on professional shoots and be taken (somewhat) seriously. I have always loved photography and the feeling of being behind a camera. (Now being in front of one--totally different story!)

For my end of the challenge, I had to stare down the monsters Debt & Credit, suck it up and admit that I was a photographer who deserved & earned to have a nicer camera, and surrender to the frightening aspect of being deemed a "Professional". Scary, neh?

Now if I could just figure out how to download them to the computer...