First Lenses

 I've always loved taking pictures. Didn't have a real talent for it, but I loved doing it. I liked catching unguarded moments; friends with food halfway to their open mouths, laughing hysterically, candid images that still mean more to me today than the posed photos I take with friends on nights out. And this is when it started.

It was Christmas 2004. My sister and I are in our PJs in our childhood home and our parents have (as usual) given us the same presents. Instead of the usual clothes or beautiful jewelry that our mom would tuck away once we open them so that we wouldn't lose them, we've got something a little more interesting: A Sony Cybershot.

I remember thinking that it was bulky even by early 2000s standards, but I was so excited to finally have a digital camera of my own that I honestly didn't care. I went nuts with that camera for the following year, taking pictures of whatever and whoever I could for shits and giggles. People, places, objects, nothing was safe from my camera. And I loved every minute of it.

This camera stuck around through the following year, up until the end of my senior year when I tried to turn it on...and it just wouldn't. Granted, I know I dropped it a couple of times, but I was still pretty devastated when it wouldn't turn on. It's been a few years, the rim around the lens fell off at some point and there are far too many scratches on the surfaces from me stuffing it into my backpack without any protective cover from my pens and highlighters in my Jansport pocket. I've had a few more cameras since this baby, but I've kept it around anyway. There's always something about your firsts...