So I’ve been taking for years now about wanting to get a digital SLR camera. I’ve felt that my inner photographic genius was being hindered by my simple point and shoot Kodak. I need to a bigger outlet, something with more functionality.
Then while I was at Costco, I noticed they had two different bundles, a Nikon and a Canon, that were just two good to pass up. I’ve being doing alot of research over the last year on which companies made the best digital SLRs in the range I was looking at and both Nikon and Canon received rave reviews.
In the end I decided to go with the Canon Digital Rebel XTi kit not only because of the great reviews it received, but also because several great photographers I know use it and recommend it.
The bundle included:
- The Digit Rebel XTi
- EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II
- EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III zoom lens
- 58mm Canon UV filter
- 1GB CF Card
- A 90 minute instructional DVD
- Canon gadget bag
Of course I’ll be the first to admit I barely know what an ISO setting is so I have a great deal to learn about the world of photography. But so far I’ve been having fun.
Currently playing in iTunes: Piano Concerto No. 5 In E-Flat Major (Emperor) by London Symphony Orchestra
This past weekend, Adam and I traveled to Virginia to see our friend Courtney graduate from James Madison University.
After arriving on Friday, Adam, Courtney and I headed over to Calhoun’s for dinner. While we were waiting for our reservation we went across the way to the wine shop for a little tasting. I bought an outstanding Cabernet Franc that I could “enjoy at breakfast in the Outer Banks.”
Saturday was graduation day and it was filled with interesting times. The president of JMU was dressed in a purple velvet robe with giant silver bling around his neck. The commencement speaker was pretty bad, but when he was done it was time for lunch.
After lunch we headed to Courtney and Miranda’s graduation party and saw many friends and made some great new ones.
Sunday we had breakfast at The Little Grill and met up with a great new friend, Matt, to head off to a local winery. The winery was fantastic and we all ended up with a few bottles before we left. Matt suggested looking for some place for dinner in one of the little towns near the winery.
After walking around for a bit we ended up heading back to Harrisonburg for dinner at Calhoun’s and then an evening of wine drinking and Arrested Development.
Overall it was a great trip. It was awesome to see Courtney’s graduation after she worked so hard and to make great new friends.
Just a neat shot out at Edgewater Park as we were driving home.
When I switched my blog to Wordpress I also started using Flickr and I have to say that I love it. It makes organizing and sharing photos fun again. I’ve already upgraded to a pro account. Yes I know I could come up with some free solution on my own server here but Flickr just makes it too easy and offers so many slick features it’s not even worth bothering with my own solution.
I’ve already started to upload most of my iPhoto library but I still have a ways to go. I just finished uploading some pictures from a trip to visit my Grandma in Grand Haven, Michigan this summer.
There are some neat tools for Flickr as well. For Mac I use either Flickr Uploadr or use the FlickrExport for iPhoto. And of course the myriad of Flickr plugins for Wordpress, in fact my photo gallery on this site is powered by Flickr.
If you’ve got a Flickr account be sure to let me know so I can add you as a contact, if you don’t have one it’s free to sign up and I highly recommend it. And feel free to subscribe to my photo RSS feed.
I have finally finished my conversion over to Wordpress with my new site design. It was a difficult choice chosing to leave behind ExpressionEngine, but in the end I believe it was the right choice. EE was almost too much for a personal blog site such as this.
Many thanks to Jeremiah for convincing me to switch, Adam who helped modify the design for my site, and Ryan for lending his impecable eye to critique the design before I released it. The new design features many enhancements including:
I’m currently working on converting my entries from ExpressionEngine to Wordpress so I hope to have them available here soon. Also if you had an account at my EE site you’ll need to re-register here (link at the top right). This would be a good idea for those people who plan to comment often so it will store your data.
RSS Users: Please update your
feeds with the new address.
If you notice any bugs or issues please let me know, I’m still working on getting things just right.
