Just a short little message that I passed kind of a neat milestone (to me, anyway) this past week when I was shooting at the Wolves game on Friday night.

I was shooting with two bodies (my 20D and my Rebel XSi) with different lenses, but I took most of my images with my Rebel XSi. During the game, I surpassed the 10,000 exposure mark with my XSi, just over a year since I added it to my arsenal. That probably doesn’t mean much to more avid photographers than myself, or others that shoot on a more regular basis than I, but I thought it was neat.

10,000 on my 20D

That little milestone in just 13 months made me pause and ponder how long it took me to hit that same mark on my first DSLR, the Canon 20D. It took more than 3 years to hit 10,000 on my 20D from my very first photo back in ’06 to just this passed September at the Maui Photo Festival.

In all fairness to the 20D, I did put it on limited duty late last year when my XSi arrived. I decided to go back and check the last shoot before I became a two body shooter, and my 20D had logged just under 9,500 photos at that point.

They’re Only Numbers

Sure, they’re just numbers and don’t mean a heck of a lot. For me, at least, they highlight the fact that I am making a more dedicated effort to go out and shoot more and practice, practice, practice. While I’m still not to the point where I’m shooting everyday or even every week, I’d like to get closer to that as soon as I can free up more time and plan accordingly.

Looking back at the last 13 months shooting with my Rebel XSi, I’m pretty happy with all the shoots I’ve done. Here’s a short list of the highlights.

• My first photographic visit to the local forest preserve.
• 4 professional hockey games – 3 of the Chicago Wolves, 1 of the Blackhawks
• 2 trips to Maui – 1 in February and most recently at the Maui Photo Festival
• 3 visits to Door County, WI – although the last one was mainly washed out
• 2 aerial shoots – one helicopter flight without doors over Maui and a plane ride above Door County.
• Fireworks at the Taste of Chicago
• 2 semi-serious portraits shoots – including my great-grandmother’s 95th birthday bash.
• A handful of time lapse sequences – including our Christmas Tree last year.
• An initial curiosity with infrared shooting.
• And last, but not least, a new found interest in shooting HDR images.

So, you can kind of see it’s been a busy year for me, but in my overall plans for my work, it’s really just a beginning.

So, Now What?

Well, I’ve had my eye on the Canon 7D as my next DSLR for about two months now, after agonizing whether I can afford to go full-frame yet (and deciding I can’t). With its HD video capability and a emergence in fusion shooters out there, I’m not sure I’ll have a desire to shoot video just yet.

I’m more interested in getting that 3rd DSLR body so I can have my original 20D converted for IR shooting without filters next year. I think that’s going to be a fun tool to have in my camera lineup.

More immediate, though, I think my main goal of getting out and shooting more is really the first order of business. With winter coming any week now here in Chicago, I get to go out and do more winterscapes (which I really enjoy) and focus more on building out my online portfolio here on the website and with my new Flickr account.

That, and looking into the prospect of making fine art prints and finding a few local art fairs in the spring have me pretty focused for the next six months. All good times if you ask me.