Thankful To Have a Camera

I'm finally posting about my new camera, which I mentioned I would share about quite a while ago.  So lets start at the beginning:

Back last summer, I did a bit of research to decide what camera I would to purchase once I had enough money to buy one. Since I've been able to use my parents dSLR for quite a while I was able to figure out what I wanted in a camera and find one that would work for me. Our Sony A100 was a marvelous camera and I took many photos with it that I still love, but I'd started to outgrow it. So after many hours of searching the web, looking at pictures on flickr, and comparing specs, I finally decided on one: the Sony A580.

I thought it would be quite a while before I would be able to buy it and put most of the money I received in a camera savings. But just a few days after New Year's, our camera died. It was quite sudden and unexpected, but we were glad it didn't decide to die on our vacation next month. 


So, thanks to my grandma was able to help me out with some of the money I needed to purchase my camera, I was holding my first dSLR, the Sony A580, in my hands a little over a week later. I'm very thankful to actually have my own camera, which I got much, much sooner that I ever though I would.

Now on to the fun stuff! The A580 has a lot of great features that the A100 didn't have, such as live view, a tilt able scree, and HD video, which is really awesome. But one of my favorite things is the ISO quality/range. The grain at higher ISO's is much better and has a higher range as well.

I am so happy! to have such a wonderful camera! I know I'm going to get a lot of great use out of it in the many years to come.

Two Years

I can barely believe it's been two years since I started this blog. Time has just been flying by. Looking back at my archives, I can see how much I've improved since then. Some of the photos aren't too bad, but I can't help but cringe at the over editing and the terrible watermarks I made. I had no clue what aperture, f/stops, or any idea how to operate my camera out of auto, but now it feels like I've known that stuff forever.

(you can read my first year blog post here: One Year)

Here are some fun things that happened this year:

-The biggest thing that happened was being able to purchase my new camera (and I'm still working on a post about that).
-I upgraded from PSE7 to Photoshop CS5

-I got to take Senior Photos of a friend of mine

-I purchased a new lens, the 35mm f/1.8

There are so many fun pictures that I took this past year and these are just some of my very favorites:

{Claire's headshots - January 2011}

{Ducks - February 2011}

{Tulip Fields - April 2011}



{Daisies - May 2011}



{Visiting Oregon - June 2011}



{Gino - August 2011}



{Lavender - August 2011}



{Beach Vacation - August 2011}



{Renee's Senior Portraits - September 2011}



{Chocolate Truffles - October 2011}



{Autumn Leaves - October 2011}



{Pumpkins - October 2011}



{Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies - December 2011}



{Winter Wonderland - January 2012}

It's a Winter Wonderland Outside

Ya know how I mentioned in my last post how the snow wasn't sticking? Well, it wasn't very long after I published that post when it really came down and it decided to stay. Now, four days later, we have a seven and a half inches of snow covering the ground.

Sunday Tiana, Daniel, my mom, and I went on a walk around the neighborhood, which is one of our favorite things to do when it snows.

Oh, and just before we left, Tiana made this tiny little snowman.

I though the fire hydrant looked pretty cool covered in snow.

After walking our usual route, we thought it would be fun to walk across the street to Starbucks for drinks. We ended up getting chocolate doughnuts as well.

Daniel eating his doughnut and peppermint hot chocolate.

Yes, I did decided on a cold drink, even tough it was only thirty degrees outside.

At the table outside the store, someone had build this snowman on the table.  The eyes, mouth, and buttons were all coffee beans.

It's Snowing

It's pretty wet and not sticking much, but it's still snow!

Taken with my new camera, which I'll be posting about soon!

Oh, and whenever I think of snow, this song pops up in my head.

I Heart Faces - Best Face Photo of 2011

I have lots of favorite photos from 2011, but this photo of my brother Daniel is one of my favorite portraits I took. It was just a quick snapshot taken in our living room when I noticed the great lighting. I just love how sharp and clear his eyes are.

Catching Up

My family had a great Christmas. We all decided to open our gifts on the morning of Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day this year, which was fun. We all woke up while it was still dark out and my mom and dad had gone out to get some doughnuts, which was a fun surprise. 

I made these yummy chocolate pretzels which we all munched on throughout the weekend. The M&M's on top are the coconut ones.

The day before New Years Eve our whole family went to a ball that our friends put on. It was a really fun night filled with lots of Ceilidh Dancing (Scottish and Irish social dancing) and even a little Waltzing at the end.

On New Years Eve we decided to go inner tubing in the snow at night. We went with some friends of ours and we had lots of fun speeding down the hill.  And at the end they let us go down in trains. That was awesome.

It was quite sad when last week the dSLR died. It was quite sudden as it was working fine earlier in the day. There is a bright side to that, though, because since we don't have a dSLR in the house anymore, I was able to purchase the camera I've been wanting, the Sony A580, last night! I'm super excited about it and I can't wait for it to arrive this week!

So, that pretty much sums up my last couple weeks. How was your Christmas and/or New Years?