The day the Universe handed me a camera

My blog post today is a mishmash. I thought I was going one direction, but then my pen took me in another. Bear with me. I hope that by the end you may be inspired to pick up a paintbrush, dust off your old camera, or throw some clay.

In 2021 I purchased my first creative camera. I say “creative” because for many years I wanted to capture the images from my travels that had been imprinted in my mind. I had one in University but gave it to my dad because at the time I found it too bulky and I wasn't ready.

I’ve been very lucky to travel to several different destinations and see beautiful things that touched my soul. But I can still remember the frustration of standing before a mesmerizing scene and not being able to capture it the way I wanted with my point-and-shoot camera. I still remember back in 2011, when I traveled to Cinque Terre, Italy, standing on the walkway looking over to one of the villages and I wishing I could take the pictures like I had seen in travel magazines.

Over the years I tried a few point-and-shoot cameras with a bit of zoom, but they never filled that creative void I was longing for.

I truly believe that my soul was crying out in frustration because I wasn’t listening to her or filling my creative space. I could have made a choice to listen, but I chose not to.

In 2020, I began taking mindful, intentional pictures with my phone, and the thought of buying a mirrorless camera became even stronger.

I bought my first mirrorless camera in 2021.

I almost didn’t.

It was a cold January day. I had taken my car to the dealership for a check-up and oil change. I had planned to stop at Best Buy afterward to see what cameras they had, as I’d been researching and wanted to hold them in my hand.

As I sat in the waiting room, the service guy came over. I thought he was going to tell me my car was ready, but instead he gave me bad news: something was wrong with the car (I don’t remember what), it was a safety issue, and it had to be fixed immediately. Dang. That was going to take more time and cost me around $800. My heart sank. That was a lot of money, and I immediately thought, "Well, I guess I won’t be buying a camera any time soon."

A few hours later the car was ready. It was getting dark, and I figured I’d just head home. But a little voice inside said, "Go to Best Buy anyway."

So I did.

I found the camera department and started looking around at the camera models I had read about online. At this time, I did not know any photographers, so I had not received any advice of what to look for. I did a bit of research, but I am more the kind of person who likes to receive information by word of mouth. I was going in blindly, in a sense. Most of the cameras were still out of my budget and for me it was a lot of money to just spend on myself without my family directly benefiting from it.

I then went over to the Sony cameras to have a look.

There was one Sony camera, the A7II I was familiar with. It was still out of my budget from the prices I had seen online. I then looked at the price below the camera and I suddenly got confused. I was reading the label to make sure it was really matching up to the camera. I then took my phone out to see the price of it online. I realized that the price in front of me was $800 less than online. There wasn't a sales sticker. It was just a regular priced label. So, I went looking for someone who worked there. I asked him if he could please point out which camera goes with that price and label. He had a good look and pointed to the Sony A7II. I then said to him "But online it costs way more." He then pulled out his little price checker gun to scan the UPC code. He looked at the result and he said "It looks like we priced it wrong." That's what I had figured. He then went on to say " I think you can have it at that price, because it is our mistake. Let me get my manager."

He grabbed his manager, who then came over to check the price as well. He then turned to me and said "It is priced wrong. I can give it to you for the cheaper one. You better buy it now because as soon as you walk out that door I am changing the price."

My head started spinning. I wasn't quite sure what to do. I wasn't planning on buying a camera that day, especially after paying a huge bill for my car. However, I thought it was a sign. I started thinking that the Universe was handing this camera to me on a silver platter and was testing me to see how serious I was about buying a camera, one I have always dreamed of but never allowed myself to take the leap. I felt like I was in an out of body experience observing from the outside this whole situation.

He handed me the camera for me to hold. It felt a bit heavy but if fit perfectly in my hands. A rush of images that were never taken flashed in my head and a feeling of joy and excitement of what to come settled upon me.

I then remember saying "Well, I better buy it!" Honestly, that answer did not come from my head. I think my heart and soul were speaking for me and just took over. For a lot of you reading this, you may think this was a no brainer. However, for me, it had been a very long time since I had bought something that expensive for me alone. As a stay at home mom, with small part time jobs, everything I bought benefited the family.

However, I know it is all on me. No one was stopping me other than myself. Sometimes those voices in my head telling me "no" were much louder than just going for it. If it involved my family that voice would say "yes!" more often than not. That's how we got to travel a lot.

But for me alone?

What was I scared of?

The money always came.

I have learned over the years that I needed to start talking to myself and encouraging myself like I would with someone else. We can be our own worst enemy.

So I bought the camera because if it was someone else I knew in that position, I would have told them it was "Meant to be."

I’ve never regretted it.

My soul started singing as I played with my camera. Those early days I would find opportunities to head to the mountains and capture the beauty around me. I have always loved the Rockies and now I was able to capture them in a more meaningful and creative way. There was so much to learn and I am continuing to learn. The joy it brought filled a space in my heart that had been longing for many, many moons.

Recently, my daughter traveled to New Zealand. She took photos with her phone but often wished she could do more.

One day this past summer she told me she wanted to travel more and maybe buy a camera. My heart leaped. I said, “You need to buy one. Don’t wait until you’re 48 like I did. Don’t go to all those amazing places and feel disappointed because you didn’t have the right camera to capture what you saw.” Within a week, she bought her first Canon mirrorless. I cannot wait to see what her eye sees.

Creativity, however you express it, doesn’t have a timeline. If something interests you, explore it now! Don’t wait until your kids are grown, you’re retired, or you have a certain amount of money. If it speaks to your soul, act on it, at any age. Creativity is like meditation; it’s a form of relaxation, focus and play.

Learn something you’ve always wanted to try. What could go wrong? You might not be good at it. Well, that takes time. I’m four years into photography and I’ve taken tens of thousands of pictures. With practice, I’ve seen some real improvement.

And what if you don’t like it? No loss, you satisfied your curiosity.

But what if you do like it? What if it lights you up? Then you practice, you share, you find a community. Your world expands just because you listened to your muse.

With so much toxicity in the media today, where we often wonder what’s true and what isn’t, I believe we need to connect with our creative soul more than ever. Just as walking in nature can bring peace, so does creative expression. And who knows, maybe the painting, the mug, the photograph you create will bring joy to others, too.

That sounds like a world I’d love to be part of.

Have a beautiful day

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Single Beauty

Storm is Coming

Nature's Fireworks

Connection

I invite you to take a look at my shop www.rikkineukom.com/shop-1.

I have sold out of my first 2026 Tuning into Nature Camera first run, but I will be getting more soon. Get yours early as last years Postal Strike really did a number on small businesses.

I am just firming up some Christmas Markets dates and will let you know soon.

Please follow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/rikki_neukom_photography to see some of my latest pictures.

Have a beautiful day.