6 Years Old

My nephew on his birthday.
Some lens flare/glare or something has caused an angelic halo... not fooling me. (Just kidding, kinda) Can any photographic enthusiasts explain what happened? Pics taken with a a 50mm f/1.8 lens with a UV filter.

Ballin'

It looks like they were filming a gatorade commercial.

Quack and Crack

I dont think I need to explain the title of this post. Aside from the humor of it, I do like the composition of this photo.

No one's invited

Its my party, and no one is invited. Now suppose I was to get all artsy on you, the picture might end up looking like this:

But some might cringe at that.

Knurled Grass

Some curly grass. Much more interesting than the birds.

Knurled Iron

A curly iron bar. Thats all. Just ... it.

Fishin' Fam

I went for a walk in the park today. I've been under the weather and wanted to escape from my basement apartment get some fresh air. I took my camera along to try out my zoom (70-300) lens.

Around the house

I would imagine that "new" amateur photographers tend to take a lot of photos of household objects. I'm learning workings of my camera and lenses, so I promise more interesting content to come.

Soymilk

I was making soy-milk, I liked the look of the steam rising from the pot as seen in the light coming thru the door. The photo came out significantly better than the soy-milk itself.

Revisiting the pole

I came back to the same row of flags that I photographed just a couple of weeks before. I wanted to try retaking the same photo in better focus. Someone apparently added a tattered flag to one of the rope fixtures - I believe it ended up as an incrementally better photo.

Camera Repair

I am back-dating this post so that it doesn't headline on the front of my blog (written 9/1/08), but I'm hoping that this will get picked up by a search engine to help out some people who may have the same problem. I had an error message "There is a problem with the CF card" on my camera, a Canon Rebel Xti. Frustrating because I just took a bunch of pics. Apparently I left the camera on, but in its standby mode for a couple of days. I read online and didnt find much resolution short of formatting the CF card. One post I found said that they blew into the camera "old-school nintendo style" and it worked. I did the same thing: took out the card, blew into the camera, blew into the card, put it back in and it worked. I quickly loaded my pics and will not format the card for extra measure. It makes no sense, I've never taken the card out for any reason so its not like it got dusty or worn away. But it worked. So if you ever find this error message, give that a shot

The error came back after I downloaded the pictures, but I'm glad I was able to get the pictures off first. I took one photo and the message is now gone. I called Canon tech-support and the one thing they were able to tell me was that they recommend formatting the memory card on a regular basis. I have never heard that, and have probably not formatted a memory card more than once on every camera I've ever owned. He recommended formatting it after each download. I'll start doing that.

In disrepair

I'm not sure why I photoed this. But theres just something about it that I like. The colors really pop.

Green meshy lines

I dont know much about photography. I'm an amateur (self-proclaimed at that), more like a hobbyist. I know about lines creating visual interest - so I aimed for it. I mentioned in a previous blog that I'm still playing with manual focus - this last image is admittedly out-of-focus.

The Ole' Ball and Chain

Went for a walk in the park to try out the new cam. Needless to say, I didn't expect to find this kind of cruelty. So sad.

Quit whining...

Some of my first photos taken with my new cam. I keep empty bottles of wine for some reason. I always think that one day I'll find a great project that is made of wine bottles... and I'll be ready. I like to sample as much inexpensive wine as possible to try to find the best affordable wine that can be drank in excessive quantities. Right now my absolute favorite is the second one shown: Bully Hill Love My Goat Red Table Wine. Also a french wine Les Jamelles Pinot Noir. Both under $10.00

Strap off

[The date of this equipment related post was changed to push it to the start of the blog]

I bought a great new camera wrist strap. I realized that neck straps "aren't for me". To me, it feels awkward carrying a heavy camera around my neck. I find that the long strap is dangling awkwardly otherwise, or hanging out of my camera bag, or wrapped around my wrist anyhow. I also think wrist straps are incrementally cooler. Mine has skulls and hearts on it - to both scare little kids and show my sensitive side.

I got mine online at Phat Straps (www.phatstraps.com). They are hand-made and can be made with custom designs and embroidery. These are sturdy, convenient, well-made straps. They also carry custom neck-straps, and are now carrying kits with lens cozies also (who like's a cold lens). I have no affiliation with the site, but I will gladly recommend a great product.

(Dirty mirror)

The Beginnings of a Voyage (First Post)

This is my first post to my new photoblog. Thanks to Jeff Kirlin (http://jkirlin.blogspot.com) who recommended blogspot and helped me choose some of my new equipment. I'm going to hold back on telling you all about me. Frankly I'm not sure who will ever see this blog. I just wanted to make a place to easily post up the fruits of my new hobby.

Ah, the self-portrait: the cliche beginning of many photoblogs. Why would I be any better to not follow in fellow blogger's foot steps.

So I've bought a new Digital SLR camera. A Canon Rebel Xti to be precise. I (with intention) have the 18-55 kit lens, as well as a 70-300, and a beautiful Canon 50mm f/1.8 that I have become partial to.
This is a canvas bag I picked up from my local Army Navy Surplus store. I also bought a fancy padded camera bag but I've returned it. It fit all of my equipment (not much now, just a body and 3 lenses), but its just too snug. This canvas bag is great. The side pockets seem like they are just made for lenses (thats my 70-300 fitting in there), or grenades. I bought some foam (automotive headliner) material and made some padding/lining for the bag. It came out great, its very convenient and it was a great buy/find for $13.00

The other modification I made to the bag was replacing the clip that closes the top of the bag. It was an awkward buckle where you need to thread the strap thru it. I simply replaced it with a traditional snap buckle that opens when pressing the two tabs on the side.

11/7/08 Update: I've been using this bag for months now. It really works great. I havent had any equipment damage, and everything is super easy to get to. The side pockets really are absolutely a perfect fit for lenses. The middle compartment is big enough that I can stow my camera body with a 300mm lens attached to it, as well as a bunch of other junk in the bottom of the bag.