My Single Reflex

my new 50mm f1.8 lens' paperwork say it sees the world the way my eye does. it doesn't zoom in to pick up far away details. it doesn't shoot wide angle to gain a fuller perspective. it just looks where i look, and focuses where i focus. perhaps that's why i love the whole depth of field thing i get in this shot. the distance is still out there, and i'll eventually get there. but if i've focused on it, i miss the up close. i'd miss this...these leaves and branches that show a beautiful gold in the setting sunlight ("beautiful light", one of my photography informational sources, Nancy Merkling, calls it). i like this lens a lot and i'm a long way from really pulling out it's potential. hopefully a long spring and summer's worth of shooting will acquaint me with it, up close and personally.

it was 60 degrees here yesterday...on February 1st. 47 the day before that. in Chicago. on January 31st. 51 today. it's no wonder this seed pod was confused. unusual weather misinformed it. so, as it is wont to do, it opened and jettisoned its cargo into the springtime air...except it wasn't spring. if you believe Pete, the infamous groundhog, we're still in for 6 weeks of winter, and those of us with Chicago winter experience know that we're good for sub-freezing temps well into March. temps that will kill those floating seeds sure as Lysol does germs. if only there was some way to say, "hey...hang in there for a few more weeks. your time is coming. it's not here yet, but it's coming." if only...

it's obvious from the title of this blog that my photographic bent started with a simple iPhone 4. while i still regularly shoot pictures with my now 4S, it was the gift of a Canon S5 point and shoot that really let me start to grow my skills. it had manual controls, a zoom lens that didn't turn into a grainy mess like the 4S, and gave me a tool i felt like spending time with...going out to take photos for hours. after about a week with the Canon S5 i knew i was going to want to do more than this little bugger could pull off. i began looking at all the great options out there for cameras and, after some conversations with a few pro photographers i knew, i decided on the Nikon D7000. i didn't want to cut into the regular budget my wife and i were setting up, so i came upon an ingenious funding plan. i started doing focus groups and online surveys and, wouldn't you know it, i had almost 500 dollars in just about 6 months...not bad, but only about a third of the way t...