Cameras

For my birthday in October, 2006, I bought a Nikon Coolpix L3 digital point and shoot camera.  I'd been shooting film all my life, but decided I wanted to see what this digital stuff was all about.  I fell in love with digital photography, and for Christmas, I treated myself to a Nikon D80, newly available at that time.  It's the camera I still use today, and frankly, I see no reason to "upgrade."   A couple of days ago, my partner's aunt gave me a camera she has been holding for the past decade.  Its original owner, a young man who loved shooting floral close-ups, according to Bonnie, committed suicide when the girl he liked pushed him away. I'm the only photographer Bonnie knows, and the young man's family didn't want the camera, so it ended up in my arsenal.  It's a Canon F-1, fairly basic, but very sturdy, with two lenses.  Kevin asked me why I would want to go "backwards."  And it's not that I intend to spend a lot of time and money putting film in the Canon and then having to get it developed and printed, but I am curious.  This in turn has me going back through my portfolio, looking at shots I took with that Nikon Coolpix.  They're not half-bad, and I sometimes wonder if the ability to do so much with the D80 has taken away from the skill and eye required with a "simpler" camera.  I dunno the answer, but I'm having more fun exploring than I've had for a while.  In point of fact, the only time I feel really alive and joyous is when I have my camera in my hands, or when I'm sitting with Bridge open looking through what I've done in the past.  Is it nostalgia?  Perhaps.  I'll have to get back to you on that.