In Memory of My Nikon D3100

Such is Life…

I haven’t posted in a little bit on account of some bad news. Nothing too crazy, don’t cry on me yet. But I certainly almost cried when about a week and a half ago, my Nikon camera body gave out on me. Can you believe it?! Barely a week into my European excursion (I really have to come up with a cool nickname for this trip) and my camera gave out on me.

What’s funny, in a not actually laughing kind of way, is that the day before my trip I had a photo-shoot scheduled with a music duo where I would take some promo shots for them. When I met with them and turned on my camera to take test shots, nothing happened when I pressed the capture button. The camera was on, battery charged, and you could hear it “operating” in a sense but it was not focusing or letting me shoot. I panicked! Not so much because I might let my clients down (which, maybe I should have been concerned about this also) but more so because I knew a 3-month trip in which one of my main goals is to build content for my blog was on the horizon, quite literally just one sunrise away.

I tried to keep my cool in front of the two guys and called my tech-savvy photographer friend for advice but we both could not figure out what was wrong. By this point, I was shaking because I had not planned to drop $500+ on a new camera body, not to mention I didn’t think I would have the time to pick one up. Confession: I still had not even started packing. I said to the guys, “let’s walk towards the sun, maybe I just need more natural light,” and somehow that worked! The camera started to shoot again as normal. I thought, ‘phew, that was close.’

A week later in Spain, my baby (the Nikon that is) officially gave up on me. I guess that day with the clients was almost like a way to help ease me into the reality that my camera would go out of commission. Because when I got to Spain, it malfunctioned in the same way twice making me realize that it must just be dying. Finally, it just stopped shooting altogether in most of the modes on my camera (I won’t bore you with the technical photography details). In all fairness, I’ve had that camera body (a very basic Nikon) for about 6 years so hey, it was probably time. Doesn’t make it hurt any less. It also made me question whether it was a sign that I shouldn’t do the blog thing, maybe it’s not meant for me? I’ve been pushing that thought away profusely though because I refuse to give up. I love blogging!

Looking at the bright side, at least my lens is still relatively new and I’m sure with a new camera body I will be back in action. Now, I just have to figure out what to do about that step- buying a new body that is. Long story short, if I purchase from a US-based vendor and have it shipped to Spain I will be looking at crazy shipping and customs fees and paying way more than I intended for the camera body (I was not even planning to buy a new one, mind you). On the other hand, if I purchase in Spain my warranty for the part will only apply IN Spain. Third option is to just not buy one until I am back in the states and rely on my phone which is really not an option for me since I strive for high quality content on my blog. So yay, that leaves me with two simply amazing choices (please read the sarcasm here). How ever do I choose?

Anyway, I’ve pretty much decided to buy in Spain, saving me hundreds in shipping and custom fees, and crossing my fingers that I don’t need to use the warranty. I didn’t use it once for the current Nikon body that I have and that baby lasted me 6 years! Cross your fingers with me.

So, that entire explanation was to say this is why I have not posted in a while. I’ve been struggling about whether I should march on and just use photos taken on my iPhone 6s for the time being. I was shying away from this because, as mentioned, a core part of my blog is really the photography.

But today, I finally said eff it, the show must go on!

The iPhone is still capable of taking great pictures and while they won’t exactly be what I envisioned, it is better than nothing.

Beggars can’t be choosers, right?