Sunday's Child

Brushing Up

With my trip to Ireland coming up at the end of the month, I thought it would be a good idea to take the camera out and shoot this weekend, since I haven't been doing a lot of that lately.  The weather this weekend was supposed to be good - my Weather.com app for iPhone betrayed me a little.  I slogged through light rain the whole time I was out at Hermann Park this morning.  At least I confirmed that the waterproof shoes I bought for the Ireland trip really ARE waterproof.  Here's the best shot from Hermann Park:

Since I was downtown already, I zipped over to the Downtown Aquarium to see the white tigers.  I have to say, my white balance gadget makes such a big difference in how the pictures come out.  The first tiger they had on display swam in the pool and then walked by the viewing windows and swiped his wet tail across the glass, right at eye level for the humans.  Bad for photographers!  He looked right at me before he did it too...  Fortunately they did a tiger "shift change" right after that, and in between shifts, the handlers cleaned the glass on the inside of the exhibit.  Here's the shot of the day:

Additional photos from the day are posted on Smugmug - link on the upper left.

Rice University

Rob and I went over to Rice University today to shoot architecture.  I read online that they have a crazy-pants looking building.  It's Duncan Hall, home of the computer science program.

We also stopped by the Founder's Courtyard, site of many a bridal portrait:

After we ran out of buildings we wanted to see, we happened upon a clump of irises and I switched to the macro lens:

We finished off our outing with lunch at the "real" Freebirds on Shepherd.  After I dropped Rob off, I stopped by A Beautiful Floor and petted the hardwood samples some more and terrorized the sales staff.  What a perfect day!

Still Life Macro

It rained A LOT this weekend.  Not so great for outdoor shooting.  So I took advantage of the opportunity and shot a few still life ideas I'd come up with.

Blue

While I was in Conroe for Easter weekend, I took a little side trip to Montgomery and photographed the bluebonnets by the side of the highway.  There were LOTS of families with cameras chasing toddlers.  I guess people have a specific picture in their head and they don't understand when their child doesn't cooperate.  Here are a few of my shots:

Tripod Required

I played with the macro lens some more tonight, and this time I broke out the full-spectrum light and the tripod.  Things went a lot better.  Far fewer shots thrown away because of camera-shake blur.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Now that I've discovered that the tripod is a requirement, how to get it to San Diego?  It's too big to be a carry on for the flight, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't get past security anyway.  If I pack it in its canvas carry bag and check it separately, Continental is going to charge me a $25 "second bag" fee.  Fortunately, I discovered that I have one suitcase it fits in diagonally.  I just may have to sacrifice some clothes.  :-)

New Lens

 

I got a new toy this week.  I've always wanted a macro lens for my camera, and this shot on Laura Kay's blog really inspired me.  I was originally looking at the Nikon 105mm, but it's out of stock at B&H, and after thinking about it for a week I just couldn't justify the price.  I found a Tamron 90mm that gets great reviews and costs half as much, and I really couldn't be more thrilled about it. 

Up-close photography is a whole new world.  This lens highlights how much I still have to learn about depth of field and sharp focus.  Look for more photos here as I explore macro!

**Edit** When I got on my other computer, I realized the photo turned out way darker than I intended after the Photoshopping.  This pic is better.  That's what I get for Photoshopping on the laptop!

You know you have a good hobby when...

You know you have a good hobby when it requires you to buy toys for your toys.  Last year, I bought my hobby (digital photography) a trip to Paris.  It was a blast, and I got some incredible pictures.  As far as vacations go, it was pretty stressful though.  The French are snobby about their language, and I only speak just enough of it to get by.  I also had their mass transportation to worry about, and their funny electricity that's different from ours.  That boiled down to some serious sacrifices when it came to packing.  Anything I took with me, I had to lug all through the city on the train to get it to my hotel.

This year, what with the economy and all, I'm keeping it a little closer to home.  I'll be spending a week in San Diego at the end of March.  I'm super excited - San Diego has a high concentration of things I want to photograph.  I'm even MORE excited about some of the other aspects though.  They speak English, their electricity doesn't require a converter, and it's not an insane prospect to rent a car there.  Translation - far fewer sacrifices must be made when it comes time to pack for this trip.

Here's the part with the new toy for my camera.  When I went to France, what I really wanted was a photo backpack to serve as my carry-on item.  I'd heard tales of pickpockets in Paris though, and backpacks are a huge easy pocket to pick.  I made do with a shoulder bag that I wore like a messenger bag across my body.  In preparation for San Diego, I started doing research on camera bags again, and look what I found - a photo backpack that solves the pickpocket problem rather neatly.  This is the "Whickey and Cox" bag, made by Crumpler.

All the zippers for the main compartment are on the BACK of the bag, making it a much more difficult target for thieves to get into.  This thing is so sturdily constructed, I almost feel guilty taking it to a mundane place like San Diego.  I feel like it's expecting to go somewhere with a monsoon season or armored tanks or something.

(Those orange bits underneath are some of the configurable dividers from the inside of the bag.  I needed something to help prop it up.)  The very best part is the inside though - check out all the padding! 

The part on the floor holds <gasp> a laptop!  I'll be able to upload my images every night and burn them to a CD, so I won't always have the nagging fear of memory card failure in the back of my head.  And, my hotel has free wi-fi, so I'll be able to update the blog!  The main compartment is completely configurable with velcro dividers, and will hold my camera and all my other gadgetry.  Just imagine - I'll be able to take the charger for the camera battery with me this time!  It's the simple things...

Tyger! Tyger! Burning Bright

I went on a photo safari at the Houston Zoo on Saturday with my friend Rob.  The tigers are one of the main attractions for me so we used a strategy that has worked in the past:  get to the zoo right after it opens, go to the tiger enclosure first, and camp out there until the tigers are released into the exhibit for the day.  This worked like a charm.  One of the zoo keepers came out before the tiger was released, and dumped a small pile of raw meat in the grass in the middle of the enclosure.  We got to hear the tiger roar right before they let him out!  He ate all the meat, and then lay down and licked the grass to get the last little bits.  As you can imagine, licking raw meat out of grass means you also get a big mouthful of grass and dirt along with the meat bits.  The photo above is the tiger spitting out dirt.

The weather was pretty good while we were there - overcast and cool.  I was very pleased that the scratched and smudged glass panels on the lion enclosure had been replaced, so I got quite a few good shots of the lions.  I had a hot tip that the otter in the Children's Zoo pegged the cute meter, so we went over to check him out, but he wasn't swimming in his little river.  He was curled up inside his hollow log, with just his nose poking out (a lot like Andie when she's curled up under a blanket).  Adorable, but not a great photo op.  The rest of my pictures from the trip can be viewed here.