I tend to label myself as a recovering perfectionist. I think I'm mislabeling myself. I got a new camera last week - on Wednesday to be exact. I tried out the camera with it's IS USM lens on a relatively stationary subject - my cat Sprite. I had some issues with the AutoFocus but that was quickly resolved. My next test situation was Friday - low light, moving subjects. On Friday I shot 204 photos. The first dozen or so, I was trying to get the Aperture, ISO, and White Balance settings tuned. I hadn't fully read the manual so one key feature that I really needed but didn't discover until today was the illumination for the controls. I was literally shooting in the dark for the first dozen photos and accidentally set the White Balance to Shade rather than Tungsten (big difference!). I was becoming very frustrated that the shots weren't as good as those I'd taken with the Kodak DC4800. Luckily I was able to take test shots of the first band and then retreat the back...

Last year was going to be *the* year I got my Canon 20D. I got my IRS refund and was ready to buy. At the same time, the Canon 30D came out. Some reservations I had about the Canon 20D were fixed with the Canon 30D - I researched vendors and got on a wait list. Before the camera arrived, I was laid off. The money put aside for the camera funded a two month vacation. So... here I am a year later. Once again I'm getting an IRS refund and am going to use that refund to buy my Canon 30D. Well as some of you know there's a point where my patience wears out. Today was that day. I didn't want to wait any more. I wanted my camera NOW. Don't get me wrong my Kodak DC4800 Digital has served me well for years (I got it refurbed). I've taken up photographing live events in low light. Those situations stretch the limits of my trusty Kodak. The photos I've taken for the most part aren't bad - when you compare them to shots by other amateurs (who have better glass) mine shi...

Flowers My view on flowers changed last year - maybe it was the dozen Gerber Daisies that magically appeared on my dining room table for my birthday (the apartment manager put them inside so they wouldn't wilt) or the Tulips that arrived at the office. But now... I love flowers - not the ones given as an apology, but the ones given from the heart or given for thanks.