I’ve been wanting to upgrade to a full frame camera for a while now. Always a lover of Nikon, I’d been looking at upgrading my dx Nikon D3300 to the fx Nikon D750. The D750 seemed like the next logical step in the camera body evolution to me. Slowly I’ve been squirreling away money, but not fast enough. Eventually I came to the decision that no matter what, I needed to upgrade before our time runs out in Alaska.

Just a few weeks before I was going to make the plunge into the full frame world of photography a professional photographer by the name of Joel Sartore  made a post to his Instagram account that caught my eye.

Joelsartore  Own a piece of History and support the Photo Ark!     As a fundraiser, Joel is selling the two cameras that he used to start building the photo ark. Both are Nikon D-4s, and in great working order. Many of your favorite photo ark photos were taken using these two cameras.      Please go to the two links on Ebay to place your bid.

While Nikon has since come out with what is arguably its best camera body – the Nikon D5 – it’s predecessor – the D4 – is still a top of the line camera used by professionals everywhere. I am no professional, or anywhere close to calling myself one, but I am a dreamer and was struck by the chance to place a bid on a piece of equipment used by one of the greats. I logged onto an Ebay account that has sat dormant since high school and placed a bid. It was everything I had budgeted for my D750 body and a new fx lense. For the next five days I did exactly what you’re never supposed to do with the stock market, wet paint, boiling water, or Ebay – I watched it every spare second I had. Slowly the bids came in and the price increased but in the end I came out victorious and won Joel Sartore’s Nikon D4.

For anyone who knows cameras, you will understand what kind of a jump it is to go from a D3300 to a D4. And if you’re reading this, then you most likely also know me at least a bit and know how far out of my league I am. Just holding this thing is intimidating. Despite that I thrive being out of my comfort zone and I am thoroughly looking forward to getting my hands on some fx lenses and taking this thing out for a spin.

A lot that has happened in my life in 2016 has happened because of or in relation to the photo sharing site Instagram. I am nearing a huge (to me) milestone – 500 followers – on the app. That’s not too shabby for a gal who was talked into signing up by two drunk friends sitting in a bar back in February 2013. I will be doing a random drawing giveaway when I reach the 500 mark. I was thinking something Alaskan. What are your thoughts for a prize?