Category: Hobbies

Photography Shop Talk

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I spent a good 20 minutes talking to a coworker today about photography. He’s really into it and he and his wife shoot weddings on the weekend. I’ve never been into people photography which is why when a coworker many moons ago asked me to shoot her wedding I declined. I prefer animals and landscapes, plus I’m not very confident about being responsible for capturing a once in a lifetime opportunity. What if I screw up the settings and all the pictures come out like crap? I would feel more than awful. That’s just too much pressure for me.

In any case, my coworker has convinced me to look into buying Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for $120. I’ve been using a seriously old version someone gave me well over a decade ago and after hearing about all the things it can do, I’m taking it into serious consideration. I try not to spend too much money on my photography simply because I’m not making any money off it (a few hundred dollars in the past for being published), but I enjoy messing around with my photos so I might splurge a little anyway.

I really enjoyed talking about one of my hobbies with someone. I could have sat in his office most of the day comparing notes. Plus it didn’t hurt that it was way warmer in there than by my desk so I wasn’t in a hurry to go back to being cold. I mentioned that I was on the fence about buying a new zoom lens and he offered to let me borrow a 3rd party one he never uses so I can see how it performs. I hope he remembers to bring it in next week!

I’ve been wanting to get a new lens for my camera for awhile now; I just can’t decide which one. I’ve narrowed it down to a zoom lens since I love taking pictures of animals at the zoo (even the “undesirables” like snakes) and can never get close enough. I just can’t decide if I should go full hog and get the pricey but nice 70-300mm IS USM for $650, go cheap and get the plastic non image stabilized 70-300mm for only $200, or get the highly rated and affordable 55-250mm lens for only $250. Sure, I’d be losing 50mm, but gaining $400! And then I could use that money to put toward my next lens (most likely a macro). Decisions, decisions.

I noticed that Canon runs rebates on lenses, and the lens I’m leaning toward (the $650 one, of course) has not only been priced much lower in the past (under $400 in March of this year), but Canon ran a $200 rebate on it last September. I checked the current rebates Canon is offering and none of the lenses on my list are included, but based on their history, a new batch of rebates will be offered at the end of this month and I’m crossing my fingers the $650 one is on the list. Ideally if Amazon could drop the price back down to $400 AND Canon could offer a $200 rebate I would be in heaven. Could you imagine getting a kick-ass lens for a 3rd of the original price??!?

Textbook

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Ok, it’s time for me to brag a little bit. Guess what came in the mail today? A $200 check for non-exclusive use of this photo in an Illinois 2009 edition of a science textbook. This has been a year in the making but I didn’t mention it before because I was starting to feel like it was never going to materialize.

Below is a layout of the page where my photo appears, sent to me by the publisher. Pretty cool, huh? Who would have thought such a mundane photo would bring in some cash. Not that I’m complaining!

Published

Just some stuff

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Busy week, I’ll make this quick.

I’m getting really addicted to the jewelry making thing, particularly bracelets because I never used to wear them since I never liked what I saw at the store. Plus they are cheaper and quicker to make. Not that I’ve been watching my budget. I’m guessing I’ve spent a good $100, if not more, in the past few weeks. I do have a lot of crystal in different colors, as well as sterling silver beads, to show for it. Plus making my own stuff is satisfying.

What do you think of the new Yahoo! mail? Or am I the only one not on the Gmail bandwagon? I like the preview pane and ability to drag and drop messages. I don’t like the slow initial loading and it taking me to the Trash when I empty it. I’d like to see the Calendar and Notes incorporated into the design, but since it’s beta I’m sure there will be improvements to come.

The Office is still one of my favorite shows on tv, despite Jim and Pam not getting together. Actually, I’m glad they didn’t and I hope Jim doesn’t hook up with his new co-worker either. It’s like Who’s The Boss? where you wanted to see Tony and Angela get together, but once they did, the show went downhill. They have to string you along with the sexual tension until they’re ready to cancel the series. That’s the only way to do it.

We might go bowling this weekend and I haven’t bowled in years. We wanted to go a few weeks ago, but I had forgotten how expensive it is! I called the Brunswick by us and realized for four of us it would have been $30 for one game. That’s insane! I signed up the for Brunswick e-newsletter and got a 99 cents per game coupon that’s good for this weekend only. That I can do, since there’s still the shoe rental. I wish it was Cosmic Bowling, though. I’ve never done it, but it looks like fun.

Bracelet

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Bracelet

After the disaster that is this necklace (which took entirely too long to make considering how boring and lame it is), I made the bracelet pictured here. I am pretty pleased with it, other than the fact that my crimps could be tighter. I see now why everyone buys the crystal and sterling silver. It adds so much to the look. I can’t wait to wear this to work tomorrow! The only hard part is getting it on. I have a small wrist to begin with so I think I’ll use toggle clasps in the future.

Seed beads are evil

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I’m very frustrated with this jewelry making thing at the moment. I hate the little seed beads with a passion! I see now why they aren’t used in most pieces. They don’t have enough weight to keep the wire I bought from twisting, and you can’t hide the knot if you use stretch magic. I heard you can use crimp beads with the stretch magic, so I tried that last night. It didn’t go well. The first crimp went surprisingly easy, but I ran into major trouble with the second one. I’d either break the crimp bead or it wouldn’t flatten enough to keep the stretch cord from slipping out. Eventually I ran out of elastic at the one end. In a last ditch effort, I tied the elastic to the jump ring with a double knot and put super glue on it. When I tried on the necklace, however, it gave choker a whole new meaning. Then when I stretched it slightly, the tied end pulled apart. I threw up my hands in disgust. I’m still mad thinking about it. I love the designing process but I suck at finishing. I know it just takes practice but I’ve grown to hate those little seed beads now. They are evil. I will try one more time with these things and then I’m giving up on this project!