This might just be my lucky year. The Dude told me today that if I complete an official 10K run, he will buy me a pair of Christian Louboutins that I can lick, hump, or otherwise be inappropriate with due to their sheer aesthetic appeal. I feel as if I should run everywhere now just to prepare, because if losing weight is a pleasing side effect of running, the promise of Louboutins is enough to turn me to into a marathon runner. Speaking of running, I have stuck my Nike+ stats in the sidebar. This is not to be a braggart, because if you have a look at it there is nothing to brag about. I am, however, proud that I have come this far and wanted some flair to put up to show it off a bit. Yes, millions of people run much faster and much longer distances, but 15-20K a week isn't too bad for someone who just started running again after a 10+ year draught.
The Dude, made of money and full of philanthropic spirit it seems, has also offered to buy me a camera for Christmas. I have a silly little silver thing which insists upon me putting the flash on for every single photo lest I want it marred with blurryness. It was fine at first, but I'm starting to enjoy my very casual photography and want to enhance the experience. I would love for my photos of P to be less zombie-like, as most of them are beseiged by the washed out harshness of the flash with the added bonus of red eyes. Many of you are amazing photographers, so teach me, oh wise ones. I don't have a massive budget, what with the shoe commitment and all. For the British amongst you, we're talking about £300. Americans, depending on the variable rate of exchange and the cost of material goods over there, maybe about $500. Please, please, save me from the evil of the flash. Don't make my child grow up with red eyes.
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There is a new post up at Swallow the Key. Please feel free to comment, as I'm sure Anonymous would appreciate some feedback, even if it is to tell him/her how much it all sucks. Remember, if you want to make your own submissions, email me at swallowthekeyblog at gmail dot com. There are no secret irons in the fire, so give me some blog fodder!
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Apropos of nothing, but as suitable an ending for this post as any, I must tell you this P-ism from a couple of weeks ago.
P: scribbling on a newspaper I draw Johnny Cash.
Pausing, contemplating, scribbling some more
P: Oh. He's a snail now.
I frickin' love this kid.
11 comments:
I have a Nikon D50, which I have no idea how to REALLY work, but apparently it's fancy. Sadly, that does not make me a great photographer.
I have a Nikon D40 and paid approximately $500 for it. I love it with the fire of a thousand suns. There are more expensive Nikons out there, but this one is perfect for the casual/budding photographer who wants their pics to be crisp and sharp. It's a professional SLR, so you can learn all about ISO and aperture and blah blah blah if you want to. However, the "auto" option works fabulously.
"I've Been Escargot"
Will be humming THAT now for a day or two.
Nike doohicky is cool. Keep it up.
P is perfect. Drawing Johnny Cash at the tender age of 2?
Drooling over the Louboutins idea, BTW.
Louboutins?!!! I think I hate you right about now. Whatever about the cuteness of P, you're going to get some Louboutins. And I? Am jealous.
- signed, the Shoe Slut.
You are inspiring me. I actually ran a little bit on Monday SPECIFICALLY because I had read that you were running after a 10 year hiatus.
It was so hard. But I'm going to do it again today.
woo hooo on your running stats! AND the promise of gifts. nice.
I am a huge, huge, huge lover of canon cameras. You should be able to find a great canon for your budget. Even their point and shoots are pretty great.
The Canon A series is not a SLR but if you plan on actually learning something about photography, it has a manual setting so you can adjust everything (unlike other point an shoots where the manual options are few). The Canon Powershot A650IS is 12mp and about $450 (although you can get less expensive and less mp).
If you don't care about manual, I just bought the Canon SD950IS. Gorgeous photos and titanium case. Also, super small. I love it.
Secondng and thirding the Canon. have both the DSLR and an IXUS900. Love them as much as you love the Louboutins.
Best photo advice, keep the flash turned off and get in close to the subject. And take the camera with you everywhere.
I have no idea what a Christian Louboutins is. Is that weird?
Love the P quote.
OMG... I am SO going to copy you and put a Nike+ widget in my sidebar! I didn't even know you could do that! That, my friends, is this teacher-chick becoming your student.
Otherwise, as far as cameras go, I have been incredibly pleased with my Sony DSC H-7 (I believe the newest generation is the H-50). Anyhow, it has just enough features and settings to play with (like fully customizable aperture and shutter speed settings), but still has very good pre-programmed settings, many of which allow you to use the camera sans-flash. I don't know how much you know about photography, but your desire to take photos without the flash tells me that you are on the right track. The one thing that has taken me from being a so-so photographer to being a pretty good one (aside from the digital revolution which allows immediate review of photos) is turning off the danged flash. I think maybe 1 in 500 times do I ever use a flash, and on people, I really never do. The light is too harsh for skin tones.
Anyhow, I totally love my camera, it's in the $300-$400 range, and is the perfect in-between camera when you're too tired/lazy/bored/busy to bother with learning how to use the forty-billion buttons on your typical DSLR, but yet gives you PLENTY to play with to build your photo skills (but does so in a package that doesn't leave you feeling like a total failure). And those skills that you build are totally easy to translate to your bigger, fancy-pants cameras later on when you decide you want to drop a few thou on a camera/lens kit. Which I already want to do right now, and my camera is just barely over a year old. But if I would have gotten a fancy-pants camera a year ago, I would have wept at how fiddley they are to use and would have given up photo taking altogether.
Also, this site Digital Photography Review was immensely helpful when trying to determine which camera I wanted. I am not a Canon or Nikon snob (though my photojournalist mother swears by Nikon), but I'm sure Canon and Nikon both make comparable models to the Sony that I have. I just ended up with a Sony because my old camera was a Sony, and I liked the intuitiveness of the menu, and sticking with Sony meant there was one less thing to worry about learning. And Sony's camera of this type was a few hundred cheaper and had more zoom and a better built-in lens than the Canon or Nikon (Sony uses Carl Zeiss lenses, which are awesome, and when you're using a camera with a permanently attached lens, you want that lens to be bad ass. Mr. Zeiss makes bad ass lenses.)
Anyhow, that's my input.
And yes, with those comments, your daughter has just charmed me entirely as well. Frickin' AWESOME.
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