Waterfront Park and The Pearl

Today was spend mostly combining some of my favorite activities - taking pictues, hanging out with Brian, and walking Petey! I had a great time just walking around Waterfront Park and taking pictures. I mainly wanted to play around with the different camera settings and ISOs to see how images would come out - I was pleasently surprised. Definitely still have a lot to learn, and I need a lot more practice too. The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow too - so I'm sure I'll get out there some more this weekend!

Inspired

I couldn't have asked for better weather - 60 degrees and sunny in February! The lighting was absolutely perfect, and am excited for more photo-ops this weekend as the weather keeps up.

I had lunch today with Lindsey, a friend of mine, in SE Portland. On my drive back home, I found this cute little park in the middle of a neighborhood just off of Division. I almost didn't stop but am glad I did. I am really pleased with how the first one (above) turned out. (And as you can see, I reall liked this bench!)

I also had fun taking some pictures around the house - of course my cat and dog were the subjects.

Low Light

It's still February.



By the time I get home from work, the sun's already down - not an ideal situation for a gal with a new camera she's eager to try out. I decided to take advantage of the free tripod I got and went just outside my front door. I took these at a 30 second shutter speed - not sure of the f-stop, although I'm sure I could look that up on the camera, right?


There is definitely something to be said about darkness. Althought these pictures don't have the greatest composition, there are some good qualities. I love the color of the first picutre, something I definitely wouldn't have seen during the day time. The pavement in front of me captures the reflection of the street light above - amazing. And in the second, well, I just thought the street light was pretty.



It's crazy how having a camera (that actually produces great quality images) makes you see the world. Walking around campus all day today, everything I saw I would see as a still image. I'd notice details of my walk to the office that I hadn't noticed before, the color of the stone fountain outside of the auditorium, and the detail in the architecture of the surrounding buildings. The rest of the week looks promising weather-wise, so I may just have to spend a lunch break this week exploring with my camera.



I also tried an indoor shoot today, my dog Petey. He's not a very good model - I only got about 3 shots that aren't blurry or of him trying to eat the camera. Note: I need new subjects.


I think what makes me most excited about this blog is not to show off my work (because let's be honest, it's not that great), but to see my development. I know that I have a long way to go to meet my goals and I hope that this outlet will serve as a motivation to work toward them. In the meantime, enjoy!

Begining

It's about time.

After months of talking, I finally purchased a digital-SLR. I took advantage of a President's Day Sale at The Shutterbug and purchased a 10.2 Megapixel Nikon D3000 with a Nikkor 18-55 VR lens. Splurged, and got the AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm as well. A real upgrade from my Cannon AE-1 manual camera. But really, it's all greek to me.

I've always had a passion for photography. As many have experienced though, life gets in the way. I am beyond blessed to have the support (Brian, I'm looking at you) to be able to pursue my dream again and get that passion back in my life.