Taking the first step

Ok, so as many of you know, I've liked photography for a long time. Ever since I was a little girl going along with my mom as she cleaned rich people's houses in the west hills and Beaverton, I'd thumb through their National Geographic magazines as well as their over sized coffee table photography books. I'd get mesmerized by the pretty pages and wished I could go visit, thus began my love of landscape calendars (among many loves). Sure, political, portrait and still life photography is cool, but landscape is where its at for me.
For a long time, I suppressed the love for photography, just taking quick little "Kodak Moments" here and there. I never took it seriously and never thought I would. I had two friend is high school that were photography nuts, so that was their thing. Mine was singing.
When I went to study abroad in Mexico my junior year in college and got my photos developed, I realized, I'm not half bad. I began to think I could do this as a hobby, but a familiar theme arose . . . someone did it better than I did, it was already *their* hobby, so I dropped it.
Fast forward a few years. After a heartbreaking yet liberating break-up, I decided it was time to dust off my mom's old SLR 35 mm and go for it again. It was time to re-invent invent myself and find some passion again. I bought a new used camera because my mom's was too damanged, and I bought a few rolls of cheap film. This was fall of 2006. Fall is a beautiful time of year here in Oregon. I checked out some books from the library and I snapped away.
Fast forward 2 years . . . I still had the film in their rolls at home. I didn't have the guts to see how they turned out. For two years I've been holding onto these rolls for fear of what they might reveal to me, like a crystal ball. Nice pictures: you are on your way to photography. Bad pictures: EAH! Sorry, move on. I'm terrified to find out what my crystal balls will say, but I know that eventually, I need to have the truth revealed to me one way or another.
So, today during lunch, I walked down to the local Fred Meyer and dropped my 3 rolls of film off. "Do I have to do them 1 hour?" I asked the photo guy. Man do I want to delay this process. I also don't want to pay for something that might be S#%!t. In a few days, we'll see what rises from the fog but I've taken the first step to a hobby that I never should have let go.