A girl sits at a table with a bowl of fruit in front of her.

my 28th birthday

This birthday photoshoot was the last straw for my trusty, twelve-year-old Canon Rebel.

Sure, it was definitely showing signs of its age, and the auto focus no longer worked, but I didn’t know that this would be it!

My camera’s final project 🕊

Let’s rewind for a minute.

A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her.
A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her.
A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her.

I reused my Christmas dress, because 1. I have a washing machine, 2. it looked like the perfect fruity picnic dress, and 3. it’s so cute and I haven’t had a chance to actually wear it anywhere yet

Most years I like to get some birthday photos (you may recognize these fabric letters from last year’s birthday photos); the days of birthday parties are long gone for me, and photos to mark the passing of time is the only way I like to celebrate (aside from a delicious cake, of course; this year was pineapple upside-down cake, clearly sticking with the fruit theme 🍍🍋🍊).

If there’s one thing you should know about me (and likely do know about me by now), it’s that I love any excuse for a fun, themed photoshoot. It took me a minute to find this year’s theme, but once I received my expected ✨vision✨ I knew exactly what I wanted.

Fruit.

Obviously.

A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her. She holds up the number "28".
A hand reaches for the number "28" in between bowls of fruit.

you can see my cute little videos that I made for my birthday on my YouTube page

Once I get an idea/inspiration/project in my mind, I’m lowkey obsessed with it until I’ve brought it to life. I had it planned out from what bowls I was going to use (vintage milk glass), to what day and time I’d be taking the photos.

But low and behold, right before it was time, my mental and physical selves (obviously two completely individual beings) shook hands with each other and agreed to make me miserable.

This was apparently my birthday gift to myself. Misery.

Just one of those times, ya know? I didn’t look my best (hello, eczema breakout), I didn’t feel my best (are human bodies a curse? this is to be debated!), and my inner most being was tired (I’m living in American in 2026, guys).

So it was definitely considered to be a great accomplishment when I decided to get my shit together, slap on some mascara, and take my photos anyway.

(I’m so brave, I know)

A girl holds a lemon up to her face in front of a floral backdrop.
A bowl of oranges sit next to a lemon.
Various fruits sit together on a table. A birthday candle is stuck into the apple.
A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her. She holds an apple.

As you can imagine, when my camera broke (just mere moments into the shoot), it felt like an omen. My carefully-planned fruit photos simply did not want to come into being (don’t laugh at my first-world problems).

The last photo my camera ever took has a large black rectangle across most of it; I know very little about cameras, but I assume an inner mechanical piece simply broke.

(relatable)

Once I delivered the unfortunate news to Riley Mae and Mom, they insisted that I finish my shoot (since I was already set up and prepared for it) with Riley Mae’s camera.

A girl sits with a floral backdrop behind her
The number "28" stands in front of bowls of fruit.
A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her. She holds two oranges up to her eyes.
A girl sits with a floral backdrop behind her

Truth be told, I almost couldn’t bring myself to do it, because Riley’s camera isn’t an old Canon that’s been tossed around and has weathered rain, snow, summer heat, and salty ocean air for twelve years.

Absolutely not.

It’s a brand new almost-four-thousand-dollar Canon camera that has so many features that I’ve never even heard of.

But they insisted, and that’s the only reason that most of these photos exist.

(you’re welcome to my Pinterest board, and to future me)

A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her.
A hand holds a birthday candle in front of bowls of fruit.

I can assure you that buying a new camera was not an expense that I was planning for, and it was a bit of a struggle for me to press the complete order button on my new, $800 Canon camera, but c’est la vie.

I use my camera pretty much every day of my life. Whether it’s to take videos of an on-going project (I’m currently working on some painted wooden Easter eggs which are turning out incredibly well), take photos of the newly-blooming crocuses, or of a finished pet portrait* to send to a customer — I cannot live [happily] without my camera! It’s one of my most long-lasting creative outlets.

*FYI I think I’ll be taking a little break from selling pet portraits for a bit, because having the pressure of people approving, disapproving, or roughly critiquing my work is killin’ me at the moment. I have so much artwork, and many creative projects, that I’m passionate about right now, and I need the creative freedom to express it without other people’s judgements. Custom work is hard for an artist who likes to work freely. That being said, if you’re a friend and you need a portrait, please feel free to reach out to me directly, but they won’t be listed in my shop for a little while!

A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her. She holds an orange up to her face.
A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her. She holds an orange up to her face.
A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her. She holds an orange up to her face.
A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her. She holds an orange up to her face.
A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her. She holds an orange up to her face.

So I’ve simply considered this new camera a birthday gift to myself, and a blessing in disguise (okay, it wasn’t really disguised that well — I knew I’d benefit from a new camera, I just couldn’t justify spending the money until now).

I bought the Canon EOS R50, which is mirrorless (I hardly know what this means, but Riley assures me that it’s good quality), and it’s been a lot of fun to use so far. I’m not used to things being so easy; not only do I have a working auto focus again (better than ever, since it can track a subject’s eye), I can also quickly adjust the ISO and the shutter speed with a click of a button/turn of a wheel.

Lemme tell ya, when you wait over a decade to upgrade something, you really notice the new improvements.

A girl sits at a table with a floral backdrop behind her, and bowls of fruit in front of her. She holds an orange up to her face.

Anyways, this photoshoot was not actually done on my birthday, it was done a few days in advance. On my actual birthday we went for a short hike (most of the snow had finally melted off the trails), stalked some Ring-necked ducks on the river, wrote some fridge poetry, and ate cake. I certainly did not put makeup on that day.

Cheers to almost being done with my 20’s 🥂

(and also managing to not join the 27 Club)