On July 3, after the completion of the 2010 PDGA Amateur World Championships, I sauntered down to Columbus to see Cindy’s new show. Here’s some pictures.
These images were made during a trip with Ted in October of 2009. You can view the full gallery here.
Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.
In late August, on a visit to Tiffin University’s Toledo Academic Center, I swung by the Toledo Zoo to exercise my membership card. I was there for just an hour, but had lots of fun with the seals and taking pictures.
Sherry and I love poking fun at sports commentators who say silly things. Granted, we ourselves would probably say some dumb things if we were miked for three hours and sitting at a sporting event. However, sometimes folks say things that really are just plain, well, wrong.
At the end of today’s Maryland/California NCAA basketball game, the announcer was trying to be nice as the camera focused in on a California player burying his head in a towel as the game ended. “He’s just a freshman. He’s got plenty of more chances.”
Well, no. He doesn’t. He’s got three more chances. That’s it. No more. And possibly less if the guy is good enough for the NBA to come calling.
Now, I’ve got an open field that I’m going to look great in.
On Friday, Ted and I thought it would be nice to return to Hocking Hills State Park and see the ice formations at Old Man’s Cave and Ash Cave. Todd thought, “What with the recent fluctuations in temperature–the warm days followed by the bone-chilling cold–there should be some really good ice.” Somehow I didn’t translate that observation into “Hmm, all that really good ice will probably make the trek into Old Man’s Cave treacherous and very actually dangerous. Not to mention climbing out of the gorge.”
Despite the travails, I did get some nice pics. Check them out at my Flickr paga.
No, I didn’t take any surfing lessons, but yesterday Cindy and I spent some time visiting Pele at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. A pleasant surprise was the short hike to, through, and back from the Thurston Lava Tube.
Todd at the end of the Thurston Lava Tube
So, I recently used our upcoming trip to Hawaii (YES, Hawaii) as an excuse to “invest” in a new camera. I’ve been inordinately please with our Canon digital P/S, but I missed the creative fun and quality of my Pentax K1000 SLR. So, after doing my usual due diligence and wrestling with spending $$ on, essentially, myself, I narrowed down the choices to the Nikon D90 and the Canon 40D. After taking a hard look at the costs for establishing a kit that would satisfy me for awhile, I began to notice a small, insistent voice pestering me. It had the sound that one of my friend’s little brother would make when we wanted to play football and he wanted to be included. I turned around and found the Canon Rebel XSi. Sure, the Rebel was a step down the product chart from the 40D, but I had to get brutally honest with myself about my level of photographic involvement: I’m a hack. I have pretentions of artistry, sure. But, when it comes down to it, I’m a hobbyist, and the incredibly well-reviewed and regarded XSi had all the power I could ever really use. I also was reminded of some advice I remember reading somewhere that encouraged one to spend money on lenses not bodies. And here’s where the money comes in: I was able to get a Rebel body, two lenses that cover the gamut from 18-250mm, an extra battery pack, UV filters, and a rather nice camera bag all for less than the cost of the D90 or 40D.
So, there it is. I’m a Rebel, and I’ve got a mass-produced, commercially available, internationally branded camera to prove it.
Here’s two un-retouched photos from the new shooter. They were taken simply by setting the fool-thing to “Auto” and snapping the shutter:
Sir Knightley (the cat)
Look what the Internet did!
Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for pointing the way to this wonderful film on Sacred Harp, or shape note, Singing. You can watch it for free this week by going to this link.
