Since the first time I picked up a camera I’ve gone through periods of being in love with the art and periods of not caring about it very much at all. At one time I considered majoring in photography and trying to make a career of it, and at another I packed my gear away and didn’t touch it for months.

The reasons I put down the camera are usually born of frustration: frustration with the results, frustration with the price, frustration with the thought that I’m not getting anywhere even though my archives hold countless photos. Other times it just seems like I’m better off taking photos with my phone and editing them with VSCOcam, which lets me create and share my photos in a matter of minutes without the need to carry around expensive and sometimes bulky gear.

But eventually I pick up a camera again. This time it was because my sister and her son were over. He’s getting big and learning to crawl. He’s more alert and energetic than ever. If there’s anything more worthy of capturing than a baby, I’m not sure what it is. So I dug my camera out of its hiding place to see what I could get. That’s when, beautiful afternoon light streaming through the window, happy baby playing on the floor, practice and a little bit of luck combined to show me just what I can get out of a good camera.