Project 12

OK... it's official... I suck. Alright, maybe I should clarify what I am sucking at before jokes fly a-plenty! This year (so far), I have sucked at following my Project 52. So, with my head held in shame, I have decided to demote myself to the simpler and less-pressured Project 12.

Yes, I am already 1 month behind on a Project 12 too, but being 1 image behind feels a little nicer than being a whopping 8 images behind, so I'll take it. :-) Once again, I am looking to MCP for subject ideas. January was "Resolution", and February is "Love" (or "Leap" for the heartless anti-Valentine cynics... just kidding... about the cynics... not the alternate subject.). Let's see how this one goes...

My New Shopping List...

One truth in Photography is that you are never happy with the equipment you have... whether it is lenses, bodies or just gadgets, you always want more! So... with that in mind, here is my initial shopping list for this year (cough)... and maybe a wee bit longer...
(DISCLAIMER: please note that this is not the complete list - just an abridged "high priority" one -  I  don't want to scare my husband!

Lightroom 4
OK, top of my list now is Lightroom 4. After a few weeks of testing this little gem's Beta version, I am hooked. (I knew testing it would be a mistake).

Another spare battery
Boring, but necessary nontheless

And finally... 24-70mm 2.8 lens
OK, the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G WAS on my long-term list. As much as his 70-200mm big brother was my ultimate dream lens, this chap's slightly lower price tag and more immediate practicality for me (not to mention the rave reviews) bumped bro off the list in his favour.
However... along came the folks at Tamron, who have just announced their version of this beauty!

Photo courtesy of Tamron.ca

Now, I may be jumping the gun a little here - the price and launch date still haven't been announced & I have not seen any reviews on it's performance yet (let's be honest, the clarity of the Nikkor will be really hard to match) - but I am still waiting with a lot of interest to see if my shopping list will alter slightly. You can find out more info HERE.

Grooming the Next Generation...

As any parent knows, kids like to mimic their parents and, since I seem to have a camera almost surgically attached to my face half the time, it only seems natural that they should want to take photos too. So, a few years ago, we bought our oldest daughter one of these indestructible toddler cameras - yes it was indestructible, but the photo quality sucked... and I don't mean compared to a DSLR... I mean it makes the first ever wooden box cameras look like a Mamiya! However, she was 3/4(ish?) at the time, and really didn't care, so I bit my tongue, smiled that "Mummy is happy that you are happy" smile and moved on.

Life thro' the eyes of a 3-year-old...

Well, as expected, our youngest has now been bitten by the shutterbug, and was running round the house trying to find 1 of the 2 kids cameras that we own. No luck. Sad face. Big puppy dog eyes.

So, I relented and handed her my semi-ancient Kodak P&S. She watched excitedly as I loaded it with cheap double A's, a 2MB SD card (yeh... I know... even half full, the photo register was at over 1500 shots left!). Off she went on a journey of photographic exploration...

It was great to watch her... watch which subjects she chose... and the delight on her face, when she reviewed each shot!

One thing did disturb me, tho...

When she discovered that she was taking photos of her fingers, by accidentally putting them over the lens, she then decided that these images were actually really cool. She then set off to deliberately photograph them!

Should I be inspired or worried? Gifted artist or potential "Dexter"?

The Ultimate Camera Bag for Girls!

Photo courtesy of pompidoo.com

Ohh...emm...geee! I TOTALLY have to, like, have this cam-er-aaa bag, that I found, like, online! It is soooooo fab-u-lous!

Sorry... don't know what came over me there.

So, yes... I have found the most GORGEOUS camera bag online, and it is now firmly on my ever-growing wish list! What is so amazing about this new brand of bag? Well, it holds what it needs to, but doesn't look anything like a camera bag - it just looks like a really stylish, everyday bag that you could take anywhere. (Yes, that IS the bag in the photo, on the desk of that oh-so-professional-looking lady!)

Photo courtesy of pompidoo.com

The bags are the brainchild of two smart Latvian ladies - one of whom is a Professional Photographer and felt the need for a stylish camera bag that didn't look like a backpack or sports bag! (I guess every girl wants to just be a girl sometimes!) Yeh, they are a little on the pricey side (285 Euros), but we are talking genuine leather here, and the have a loading capacity that is resembling that of Mary Poppins carpet bag.

If you have a few spare Euros, take a look at www.pompidoo.com .

Lenses for camera phones!

Yup... you read the title of this post right - you can now actually get SLR-like camera lenses to add to your iPhone, or any camera phone for that matter! This crazy revelation came to me courtesy of Oh So Posh Photography, when they had fun testing a set bought on the Photojojo online store ... and whilst I still remain a teensy bit skeptical of their quality, the idea does seem pretty neat! (I love gadgets almost as much as my techy husband!)


Photo courtesy of photojojo.com

There are 3 handy little lenses to choose from - Fisheye, Macro & Wide Angle - and they just pop onto the camera with the aid of magnetics! Oh so tempting...