The upcoming spring semester will be my last semester in college, so obviously I want it to be a great one. Especially with two electives left to take. After weeks of debating with myself about which electives those would be, I decided upon photography and anthropology. They complement each other well. You meet and learn about people; you document those experiences.

Preparing for anthropology was a cinch. I bought a used textbook from a student for only $10, and I borrowed the two other required books from the public library.

Preparing for the photography class… that’s a different story, especially when choosing a camera. After visiting stores and reading online reviews on digital SLR cameras, I narrowed my choices down to a Canon EOS Rebel XT and a Nikon D40. Both are great starter cameras, but I chose the Canon because:

a) I used one in high school
b) More lenses and easier to find them used
c) A bunch of people were selling them used on Craigslist

So yesterday, I bought one. A sweet deal: $475 for the camera and two lenses. One lens is 22-55 mm; the other is 70-200 mm. The camera alone is worth about $500 retail and lenses usually cost almost just as much, so a generous deal!

I just started a Flickr account to store the photos I’ve already taken and the photos I will take using my Canon Rebel.