7.5 Years of the EOS-M - Post your favorite shots!

Three years ago this week, I acquired my M5 camera. The biggest question I have to answer for myself before acquiring new equipment is if I believe it will do what I need it to do. Also, thanks to Samsung's indifference to its customers, I needed to transition to a new APS-C body in lieu of anything going amiss with my beloved NX-1. Plus, I had a collection of compatible EF lenses. So on all three counts, this little camera appeared to fit the bill. What I didn't know then was that this little camera would become the camera that just could.

For three years, My M5 Story, as many of you already know, has been a Story of Nature. My M5 has been with me over countless miles of hiking and climbing, in temperatures from 0F to 95F, with focal length lenses from 11mm to 600mm and everywhere in between. It has ceaselessly recorded both images and videos, all with one goal in mind: to assist Nature Preserves and Education Centers in sharing the beauty and diversity of Nature in order to promote an understanding of how a healthy relationship with Nature supports our own well being.

There have been a lot of images along the way, many of which have previously made it to this forum. So it's hard to pick out just a few. But I did a quick survey to come up with these.

First, some test images as I was getting accustomed to the camera during Christmas week in 2016:

In 2017, there were a few that caught my attention:

2018 adds five more images:

And the selection rounds out in 2019:

I had to apologize to my subject in the last image. Like the first female bald eagle in 2018 above, I could tell that she was not threatened by me. And she was not about to leave her perch. But she did turn her head back toward me a couple of times as if to ask "Are you still here?" On one of those turns, after I caught her portrait, I did apologize and then backed away to leave her in peace.

Nature is beautiful. Nature is inspiring. Nature is powerful. And a delicate balance of that power sustains all living creatures in Nature's realm. A delicate balance that we now know Nature will do whatever is necessary to ultimately maintain, with forces that may not be in the best interest of the creatures who get in the way. The more we learn about how these balances are unraveling with resulting disruptions to our worldwide climate and its varied ecosystems, the more we learn what we have to do and how quickly we need to act. Take the time to look around you and appreciate Nature. Take some pictures and show them to others. But more importantly, learn about what is going on by listening to all sides of the conversation. Then join that conversation to form your own opinions, not just parrot what someone else tells you. If we don't get it right, the world will still be here. But what will it be like for the creatures that got in the way?

If my M5 could talk, it would have its own opinion and a Story to tell.