Pictures included

I've always liked words. We all know this. But I also like pictures, more than I like videos. I love the ability they have to capture moments and personalities. I love the way they freeze time and trigger memories. Photography is a hobby I've been wanting to add to my repertoire for quite some time.

So when I got my profit sharing check a few weeks ago, I finally had a good excuse to go out and buy an entry-level professional camera (it's a Sony a6000 Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera, in case you were wondering). I've been so excited about this expensive new toy that it's affected my sleep—not in a good way, of course.

I didn't get to dedicate any time to figuring out how to work my new camera until Friday, when it was dark and cold. So my test subjects were extremely limited.

My fuzzy socks were the perfect model to use as I acquainted myself with all the settings.

 And I know you've all been dying to see what's in my Harry Potter corner.

It's a thing to take pictures of your food, isn't it?

I'm quite proud of this shelf. I put it up myself—without a drill gun. My hands hurt for days after that.

The next day I took my camera to visit my family, because there are many, many more picture-taking possibilities there.

I started with some artistic shots.

Then it was time to document the natural goings-on of a typical Saturday.

Tyrel was the perfect person to test out the sports/movement setting on.

And the newest addition to our family was photogenic no matter what I did with the camera.

My favorite setting, though, is the one that waits for the person to smile before it automatically snaps a picture. I think my family was getting a little tired of their amateur photographer relative, so I tested this setting more extensively on myself, since I don't have a good camera-ready smile. Turns out I felt almost as silly waiting for the camera to catch me smiling than I do waiting for the stupid person to take the picture already.

But, it was a good way to pass the time while I waited for church to start, especially since it was Fast Sunday and I didn't have food to distract me. Brownie points if you can guess what I'm doing in these pictures.

Don't worry—I'm not going to force you to look at every picture I take. But, there will be a lot more pictures included with the words from this point forward.