Things we love: The New Year & Our New Camera!

Happy (almost) New Year! I don’t know about you, but I’m planning on this coming year being one of the best yet. I turned 30 last month, Mimi Green is doing great & life is very good. There are a few things that I decided I am going to do differently this year, one is that I am finally going to make time for things that make me want to sing from the rooftop — you know, things that really make my heart glow. One of my most favorite things in the world is blogging and this past year I really put that on the back burner. In 2012 you are going to see lots more from me on this blog!

Secondly, I am bought myself a newer, fancier camera and I am making a vow to use it everyday. I also bought a bag that allows me to carry all my purse stuff and my camera (in the same awesome bag! Review of that later) so I have no excuses for not having my camera with me. Photography is one of my great loves in life (Dan’s too, we met while I was an undergrad and he was a grad student in photography, but that is a whole ‘nother story!)

And that brings me to my post. It takes a lot of gear to keep Mimi Green running smoothly and new Mimi Green gear is VERY exciting to me. We get lots of questions about who shoots our products (I do!), what camera we use to shoot them, what sewing machines we use, etc.  All of these items we use have been Chupa approved (two paws up) and I’d love to tell you about some of them — starting with my newer, fancier camera….

I had a wonderful SLR the past 4 years — the Canon Rebel XTi. I was always a Nikon gal until my D100 failed me during Auggie’s birth. I felt traumatized and Dan loves Canon so I switched teams and I’m glad I did. Nothing against Nikon (except for the birth photos fail!) but something about my Canon just feels like home to me, it feels right. I know, not a very quantitative review, but I am a super passionate person who leads with her heart, what can I say!

(I took this photo with my iphone, it’s not great but you get the picture 😉

I loved the XTi, took every product photo you see on our website with it. And its been great, 4 years without one problem and I have been rough on it. And I would have been totally happy with it for quite awhile longer except that I saw and held a Canon 60d one day last month. I was wowed by the 60d’s substantial body, its BIG flip out screen, the fact that it also shoots video! I felt a bit guilty that my loyalty to my XTi faded so fast & I almost ignored my desire to stray until I read about the 60d’s specs on-line.

Although the Rebel has always been fantastic for products that don’t move, it wasn’t always great for shooting my son on the soccer field or our hyper doggy models. The 60d promised to be much faster than my little XTi and based on that I took the bait.

Dan tried to get me to look at the even faster models, but they were all so BIG and heavy. I’m not a tripod kind of person so I really didn’t want the extra weight. And for what I need it for, the 60d is still a lot of camera.

I’ve had the 60d now for about a week and am falling further in love with it everyday. There are so many featrures to explore and learn about — I’ve done somthing new with it everyday since I got it & I still haven’t learned about all its possibilities.

Today I shot our new laminated cotton collars and it was like a dream — I can’t wait to show you all the finished product.

And there’s no need to worry about the fate of the Rebel XTi. Our office manager Paula is going to give it a new home & since the beautiful Chupa lives with Paula, I’m sure it will be very happy shooting for many years to come at its new home.