New Lens

I have this friend (whom I will not name) who admittedly is not happy for people when they get new stuff, especially fun gadget-y (I totally made that word up, huh?) stuff.  Ya know, computers, cameras, lenses.  Yes, all the stuff that I really like getting.  I totally respect the fact that she openly admits her jealousy!!!

So recently it was my birthday, and I was getting new stuff (namely a new lens), so I had to rub it in a little.  Sorry!!

But, it turns out to have bitten me in the butt a little.  You see, I ordered this lens to begin with:

Its a Tamron 28-75 mm, f/2.8.  I wanted it for a number of reasons: 1) fairly wide at the bottom end, and I’ve been wanting a wider angle; 2) zoom; 3) fixed aperture on a zoom!  If your not understanding #3, it just means the f-stop can stay the same no matter the distance you’re zooming.  And, if you’re shooting in manual mode, this is such an advantage since you don’t have to change your settings each time you change your focal length.

So I got the lens in the day before my birthday.  Actually the night before my birthday, and I tried it out in my dark house. . .  Ugh!  I really did not like it at all.  Love the fact that it was a zoom w/ a fixed aperture, but didn’t love that the widest the aperture could go was f/2.8.  That just does not let in enough light for my dark house (even in the daytime).

So I did an online return, and within about 5 minutes ordered a Sigma 30mm, f/1.4.  I knew I would love the 1.4 since that’s the same aperture as my 50mm.  Would let in lots of light!  Was excited for it to be delivered a couple days later (gotta love an Amazon Prime trial which often qualifies for free overnight or 2-day shipping).

Got the lens a couple evenings later.  The family went to bed, and I stayed up to play with my new lens.  Got it out of the box in such anticipation of how nice it would be.  Started to put it on my camera….. uh oh.  Oh crap!  Somehow (and I have NO IDEA how) I had ordered the Canon version. . .I shoot Nikon.  Ugh!

So I did the whole online return which was becoming extremely familiar territory by now.  Took both -wrong- lenses to the UPS store to ship back, and my new CORRECT lens came in the next day.

And, yep, I love it!

You wouldn’t believe how close I was standing to Sadie taking this one:

I’m sure you’ll be seeing lots more shots using this lens! 

Read Full Post »

Memory-Keeping Fail

Okay, I’ll make a deal with you:  You put up w/ me making excuses and such for my lack of photographic consistency for just this one more post, and I’ll spare you from it from here on out.  Deal?  Deal!

So, yeah, I’m kinda failing at the whole memory-keeping thing.  We had a church function at our lake house two weekends ago and I did take photos for that.  However, I didn’t even pull the camera out for my husband’s side of the family Family Reunion this past Saturday.  Totally should have taken pictures, but didn’t.  Also didn’t take even one picture for Father’s Day — not one of my Dad, not one of Joe Michael and the kids, nothing.  Ugh!  And, last Friday, the day before the family reunion, the older kids went offshore fishing with Joe Michael and one of his friends who has a little boy Wesley’s age (and they are good little friends from school).  Didn’t take any pictures of that…..  well, at least I had an excuse for that — my camera battery was dead.  Thankfully the little boy’s Dad took some pictures and sent them to us.

So, I’ve been filling in the blanks again and I’ll update for you:

162/365:  Wes playing with a water gun (before having it taken away because of shooting people who didn’t want to be shot) at the church gathering at the lake ~

163/365:  Joe Michael, his sister, Shana, and their dad, Mike ~

164/365:  Sadie posing in her “boots” ~

165/365:  Wes showing off his latest Lego building ~

166/365:  My sister, Heather, and I on our birthday, just before enjoying a delish dinner at Carabba’s – YUMMMO!  ~

167/365:  Sadie posing on the front step for me while I was trying out my new lens (which I sent back the next day).  I’ll save that story for another post.  ~

168/365:  Claire & Joe Michael posing with a Red Snapper.  All three kids (and the grown-ups too) had a blast and caught lots of fish!  Claire even caught more than her brother! ~

 

169/365:  All of us enjoying one of the less-muddy ponds around our lake at our family reunion (I borrowed/stole this from an aunt who took some pics on her phone) ~

So, that’s all for now.  Hope to blog again soon, but I promise to not bore you with any more “I’m-not-doing-this-P365-thing-well-enough” kind of posts! 

We just got home from the lake a little bit ago and the kids will be off to their grandparents’ house for the night in a bit.  I’ll be going to worship band practice and then will enjoy the rest of my evening with my hubby.

Have a great Tuesday!

Read Full Post »

Starting to Wonder

I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to cheat my way through the whole summer with this P365 stuff.    There was about a week at the beginning of this month, where I barely picked up my camera.

I’ve filled in the days now with other pictures I’ve since taken, but it is cheating.  Oh well!  My project, my way! 

Part of the reason I haven’t taken many pictures is because we haven’t been doing a lot.  Well, that’s not true.  It seems that it comes in spurts.  When we are busy, it doesn’t seem convenient to take pictures.  When we’re not busy, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything interesting enough going on to take pictures of.

Anyway, here’s a bit of (another) update:

Sadie wrapped in her towel just after her bath…

Summer days are often spent in bathing suits…all day long…

My sweet baby girl in pigtails (isn’t she looking like such a big girl these days?)…

Summer days can also be lazy days.  They can include sleeping late (yeah, right!) and curling up in the living room watching movies…

Wes & Claire started sailing lessons this week.  They were not completely thrilled with the idea at first.  But they loved it after just the first day.  They go for 4 hours in the mornings, this week and next…

“Abba Dabba”…

Ready for another day of sailing lessons (with his new life vest on)…

Also, ready for another day of sailing lessons…and feeling sassy, hehe!…

You can never tell what mood this girl is going to wake up in.  Sometimes she a total grouch, but today she was pleasant…

On that note, I’m outta here.  Gotta run a few errands while I only have one kiddo in tow.    Have a great Thursday!

Read Full Post »