Photo Bug

Last fall Bird and I felt our old Digital SLR camera was not working for us very well any more.  I was scrapping to get some decent pictures at the rink by going into full manual mode.  Without having to make any of the technical decisions or worry about focusing the subject the camera was more responsive and I did get some okay pictures, but it just didn't seem good enough.  So after having several conversations with a coworker who hobbies in photography we decided to buy a new camera and also invested in a specialty lens to specifically help us at the rink with fast action and potentially low-light situations.

Hockey has been a very big part of our family dynamic and capturing these moments we felt was important enough to warrant the extra cost.  We also decided that if we were going to invest big coin we were also going to invest in classes to learn about using the equipment well.  We were not disappointed.  We spent most of our games in the stands watching through the camera, and I've come to enjoy this aspect as I find it helps keep me much calmer.  Coincidentally we also have a whole bunch of fantastic pictures and are excited to take more.  I do believe we've been bitten by the photo bug.

Now that hockey season is over (for the summer) we are planning our vacation and thinking about the photo opportunities.  I've spent a lot more time reading about and researching different types of photography and I've really become fascinated with tilt-shift lenses.  Bird might say I'm more enamored with the geometry required to understand the lens mechanics but the pictures look really cool too.  I've rented a tilt-shift lens for the month to see if it might be worth picking one up and so I brought it to the office today to try it out.

Here's a snap of downtown Minneapolis outside my office window.  I think I got a little lucky to get a nice one out of this lens so quickly, and I have a whole mess of not-so-nice pictures to go along with it.  But I'm looking forward to see what I can get out of our vacation now.