Sometimes you have to be grateful for what you already have.
I took the following photographs in March of 2011 when I was approaching Jamaica to photograph Tia and Anthony's wedding.
For a long time, including the time of this post, I only owned one DSLR body, the Nikon D90. I had quite a relationship with that camera. It took on a lot. While I only owned the one camera, I was always fortunate enough to own multiple lenses. During a session, or a wedding, if the moment or creativity called for a different look, I never had a choice but to switch the lenses on the spot. I was lens switching. It's common, and it was never a problem....until Mexico.
The year prior to this, I had photographed Galina and Dave's wedding in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Mexico was hot. Mexico was humid. And we photographed a lot on the beach....Sand and condensation reeked havoc on my D90's sensor. It was my fault because of lens switching. When switching lenses, I was leaving the mirror and sensor open for a few seconds which was enough for little bits of sand to find their way inside.
After the wedding in Mexico, I noticed that my photos were just not having that magical quality to them anymore. It didn't occur to me for many months that the sensor might be in need of cleaning because of what happened in Mexico. (*insert Homer Simpson "d'oh!" sound effect)
After a few YouTube tutorials, and purchasing the right tools, I was able to clean the D90's sensor, and voila! The magic came back....sort of. I noticed an improvement but I started to have a skeptical eye towards the D90. It didn't feel the same.
But then I got a pleasant surprise. While descending into Montego Bay, I captured a few images and I could immediately feel that original quality from the D90. It was as if the camera said, "Hey man, I still got it!"
I got the message. I was thankful for what I had. What I loved was how sharp the images were. The colors on the ground were vivid and the clouds felt real, like you could reach out and eat them like cotton candy:
