Expectations

Over three years ago my wife Marian and I first started dating. In those three years I would say that we have gotten to know each other very well. With that knowledge comes the understanding that one of us is better at certain tasks: if the computer doesn't work right I'm the one to fix it; if we need to treat an injury she's infinitely more reliable. If we are not careful we can get forget that this classification is not a binary operator. That is, while Marian is certainly more qualified to treat an injury, I am not completely useless at it.

One of my interests and hobbies is photography. I was 18 when I was given my first camera: a Canon Powershot G2. I was also given an older copy of Adobe Photoshop, and downloaded a copy of Google's Picasa. Armed with these three necessities I began taking pictures and editing them.

Before long I was uploading my pictures to xanga, facebook, and any other social networking sites I frequented. I religiously scoured through others' pictures to steal their ideas or learn from their mistakes. Over time the mistakes I noticed became less of a matter of focus, and more of a matter of composition.

It was through this exposer that photography became one of my passions. When the opportunity arose in college I purchased a Canon XTi Digital SLR camera and a few lenses. Using my student discount I also purchased a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS3. Through experimentation and lessons from my father I learned how to get the most out of many of my pictures.

Photography is one of the skills in which I pride myself, and consider myself better than Marian at. Yesterday that assumption was brought to the ground. I found myself at a loss for words as she edited a series of photographs she had taken, and needed little or no advise from me. It brought the point home that while I may know something better than her, it does not mean that she is not capable of doing it herself.