A new toy

I'm not a professional photographer.  I know nothing about graphic design or editing pictures. I've never taken a photography course.  I've never even cracked the camera's owners manual.

I do know what I like. When I take a picture I aim to capture the subject and make it look like you could reach in and touch it.

I've been using a Canon point and shoot that I bought a few weeks before Gimli came to live with us.  This camera has been my baby for 5 years.  The majority of the pictures you see on this blog were taken with that camera. Some days, it's amazing what I can get. Other days, you should see the amount of useless pictures on my computer - too much flash, not enough, blurry and so on.

This year on the cruise, the ship was moving so much that my little point and shoot couldn't keep up. Rightfully so, I was stretching it beyond its limits and it couldn't.  I decided that I needed something with a bit more power, more control... plus a tripod.

About 7 or 8 years ago, Mike decided to purchase a digital SLR camera. It's an amazing camera and it has power and control, but it's big.  It's much bigger than a point and shoot and heavy too.  You'd need a neck like the Hulk to be able to carry this thing around it all day!  We took it on a few vacations and we found it was too cumbersome to lug around and by the time you brought it out of the bag, the picture opportunity was missed.

So, we put him away in the closet, in his bulky camera bag. There he sat for years. We'd wistfully think about it, but I was always too apprehensive to pick him up and play around.... Until the other day.

Here are some pictures I took:

Gimli refused to move from the spot until I took his picture. I've created a monster.

I think I need more practice, more playing.  There's a ton of settings and I don't know the location of the owner's manual.  This is going to be interesting. And fun.