I’ve started looking at cameras. And lenses. I’ve started tucking some really expensive camera equipment into my Amazon wish list. This might surprise some people because I’ve been such an advocate for phone photography. What’s the best camera? The camera that you have on you and that camera is on the phone that most people have with them all the time. So of course I’m still going to push people to learn all they can about the camera on their phone. I am also going to continue to take pictures with my phone camera, but I’ve been wanting something more.

I can hear Michael right now saying “but you hardly ever use the DSLR that you own now.”

He’s not wrong. I use the Nikon only for the zoom lens and the rare occasion I want to hold something more substantial in my hands while photographing things. The zoom lens on my Nikon, when set up on a tripod has given me the best images of the moon. That is the only difference between that camera and my phone camera. Both are 12 megapixel cameras, meaning they both have twelve million tiny squares for acquiring information. The higher the megapixel, the higher the resolution, but also the more light a camera can collect. This also means better resolution for larger prints and the ability to crop an image while retaining resolution quality. Whenever I’m teaching someone to use one of the microscopes, I always talk about balance. I talk about how more pixels is not necessarily better and the caveats to collecting more light. In these situations more pixels and more light means taking longer to acquire an image and causing damage to the sample in the process. Some of this can also be applied to photography. Twelve megapixels is perfectly acceptable for a 16x20 print and even more acceptable for posting online.

So why do I have a sudden craving for a camera with higher megapixels? What’s the point?

I was talking to my friend Sarah about this dilemma of wanting a new expensive camera and she said “Photography is a big part of your life, so…maybe you should get it.” Then Talaura told me that “sometimes wanting something is justification for having it.” Right now I feel like I’m wedged somewhere between beginner and novice. I will probably never consider myself a professional at anything, but I do feel ready to move over the line into more challenging photography. I don’t know how I’m going to make this happen, but I am truly grateful to have some women in my life who see me and support me in my artistic endeavors.