Entering the Digital Age (2004 to 2006)

I stopped into a local camera store in 2004 after a hecktic day at work where the stress could not have gotten any higher. All I thought while driving home was I need stress relief, what can I do to relieve stress? At that moment I drove by that local camera store. The light went on in my mind and immediately pulled over (I think I cut someone off in the process) parked the car and went in.

Of course I gravitated over to the Canon bodies. They were like old friends calling me home. The clerk (I won't call him any more than that tried to get me to Nikon, probably made more on them, but the 20D I picked up just felt right in my hands. Felt like an old friend I had not seen in a while. Well the clerk popped in a CF card I took a couple snaps in AV mode, they were horrible and told him I would take it.

I was off and running. I began taking pictures immediately. My wife was happy I got the 20D she was glad to see me do something other than work for a change. Although if you ask her now while she still encourages my photography I bet she is a bit tired of my taking her picture and explaining how one is different from the next. Man she is good to me. I have a keeper there.

Well the 20D was a whole new world for me. For once I was not constrained by rolls of film. The CF card set me free. I finally felt it was ok to make mistakes and if I did that I wasn't waisting/throwing away money in the process. In the two years I had my trusty 20D I don't know how many 10s of thousands of pictures I took. The one thing I know is I improved. When first getting it I was almost at ground zero, as photographic skill is like a language, don't use it and you will lose it.

So if I enjoyed my 20D so much why did I move on? Well, its a sad story, but let me tell it anyway. One day I was walking out of my house with 20D in hand to take some pics of the birds at the feeder. Well, my dog ran past me, sneeking out of the house and hit my hand. The 20D went flying, about 5 feet in front of me and down a flight of stairs onto hard concrete then bouncing off a fence. It was a violent death and one that could not be recovered from. It was time for a new body. In retrospect I was due...I guess.

Here is the culprit...yes he is still around. :-)

Credit: Thanks to the Canon Museum from where I got the pic above.