Though there has been a strong interest in photography and art my entire life, I didn’t start seriously pursuing photography until the beginning of 2010 when I took a digital photo class at the local community college (which is a story for another time). The ‘recommended’ camera for the class and the only one I remember the bookstore stocking at the time was a Canon PowerShot A480 – a camera that they sold for about $110. Its 10 MP and digital screen was peak. This was the most I had ever spent on a camera. I was thrilled to dive in. It came in two colors, blue and red. I got blue. Shaw got red.
And the quality… For someone who had never dipped a toe into digital cameras before, I was in heaven.
That tiny camera, which fit in the palm of my hand, was the start of my digital photography journey. And I still shoot with a Canon today.
The first upgrades to our cameras came at the end of 2015. Five years after I got my beloved blue PowerShot, I was gifted a Canon EOS Rebel T5. The gift came with a change in my life and reignited my love of photography. A second T5 joined our collection in the spring of 2016, giving Shaw the opportunity to expand on the photography front as well.
Five years later, I took the leap from the TS to a Canon EOS 6D Mark II. This camera marked a continuing dedication to expanding my portfolio and is my primary camera today.
Unfortunately, our five-year pattern ended in 2025. We didn’t add any new cameras to the collection last year, but we shifted our focus back to the arts.
Who knows what 2026 will bring, but one thing I know is that it’ll happen with a Canon in my hand.
Charlie Eileen 
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