Thanks To the Steemit Community, I Bought My First DSLR Camera

A few weeks ago, I made my very first purchase ALL from SBD:

The Nikon D3400, the best camera for beginning photographers around (at least according to my extensive research, both online and with friends). I have been so busy the last few weeks finishing up the semester of tutoring (my day job) that I barely got to use it. Except for once, and that was for last week’s episode of Skin on Sundays.

I was sick and too tired to really anything, so I ended up just taking it of myself, which I think was a good way to practice without annoying anyone else :)

Here is what I took:

The First Eye

Don’t forget about the first eye.
The interior world may not exist
without the exterior one.

I wrote it with a lot on my mind, and one of the drawbacks of overthinking is not paying attention to the world in front of you, living in the moment. I also believe that part of living in the moment includes introspection, exploring the world of the interior, but the best case scenario is if there is a balance between both looking out and looking in. Do you ever have days where you just feel empty for no apparent reason? Everything is going well, nothing outrageous happened to change the mood, yet somehow, there is an emptiness overpowering things, a feeling that the world has lost the meaning it had been full of just before. During these times, for me anyway, my best course of action needs to be to start looking outward and more simply instead of inward for meaning. To enjoy things like the smell of garlic, the feeling of the warm sun or a soft blanket on my skin, to stretch the body out in a yoga-like fashion and feel the difference, not in the soul, but in the muscles and bones. That’s where the poem came from.

My photography skills will be gradually improving as a result of watching a lot of YouTube tutorials on the camera itself, YouTube tutorials and blogs about photography in general (perhaps even here on Steemit, if I can find some good ones—any suggestions?).

Up until this point, I was using my iPhone 6 to take the photos, collaborating with other photographers, or sometimes, even borrowing a DSLR from someone else (like @kindstranger <3). My skills are not starting at 0, but in terms of working with a DSLR on manual, it will be a trek uphill to a peak of glorious vision. My physiopoetry project, which has been going on for 2 years, and which seems to center on photography, was actually an idea I had to be centered on writing. Taking the pictures I originally thought would be less important. Now, in these two years and over 100 episodes (1 per week, every Sunday), I have realized that the project is equally poetry and photography.

As I embark on this new journey into the world of photography, I’m feeling excited. As excited as I was in 2008 when I arrived in Spokane, Washington to study poetry for two years, in the end receiving a master’s degree? I don’t know, but maybe?

It was ridiculously, ridiculously cool being able to buy the camera with only money I have earned writing here on Steemit. There is no way I could have afforded the camera otherwise right now, and for that, and for many other reasons, I am infinitely grateful for what Steemit has done for my life. The project can now take off to new heights because of this camera. Thank you guys, and thank you Steemit. So much love.

...and, I can also take endless pictures of Luna!!!