Posted by *~Nightshadow~* on Jun 21, 2009 in
Miscellaneous,
My new camera 
My friend Barb recently blogged about long-term romance. Usually when Barb writes, I find myself at a loss for words because she is so eloquent, but this time, I found I actually had something of my own to contribute which was both personal and relevant.
After 32 years of marriage, I am lucky enough to still have romance. My husband often gives me unexpected flowers, and like Barb’s husband also leaves little notes near the coffeepot (with hearts on them no less), but of late, the most romantic thing was opening my email on Friday afternoon and finding in it a photo which Michael had taken and then sent to me, of the new, painted mailbox, all mounted on the post.
You see, I finished painting the mailbox last week and he had hurt his wrist and couldn’t install the new posts and mount it. So I waited (outwardly patient, but inwardly yearning to view my creation outside and visible for all the world to see).
On Friday morning I said to him “What do you think the chances are of getting the new mailbox put up by Monday?”
His reply? “The chances are very good.”
Later that afternoon he said, “Have you checked your email?”
“No” I said.
“Go check your email”, he said.
“Why?” I said. (Typical)
“Just go check your email”, he said…
Our new Mailbox
…and the rest as they say, is history… 
Thank you Michael for keeping our romance alive. 
Posted by *~Nightshadow~* on Jun 1, 2008 in
Classes I take,
Miscellaneous,
My new camera The lessons for week 4 have already been posted in the LVS classrooms, but I have yet to complete my homework for week 3.
Part of the problem is that SouthWest Florida is in the midst of “Fire Season” which occurs every year between the beginning of April and the start of the “Rainy Season” (aka “Hurricane Season”) and begins somewhere around June 1. The county I live in is the driest in the state and brush fires have been starting up almost spontaneously for the past 2 weeks. In addition, Lake Okeechobee in the middle of the state is actually on fire! Vegetation floating on the lake caught fire and continues to burn. The end result is smoke, and I’ve been having a very difficult time with my eyes due to the smoke. I can’t stay on the computer and read or write for more than an hour at a time and I find when I try looking in my camera’s viewfinder that my eyes start to burn and tear within the first 5 minutes. Sooooo……taking photos now becomes a very difficult, if not impossible endeavor, not to mention the difficulties in reading lessons and writing blog posts and/or assignments.
The weather forecasters are predicting the Rainy season to begin this coming week which will mean heavy showers and/or thunderstorms late each afternoon. I hope they’re right because I’m fairly chomping at the bit to get out and take some photos. I think I’m suffering from camera withdrawal, especially since I just bought 3 new filters I want to play with.
I think I’ve become an addict.
Tags: Florida brush fires, Lvs classes, Photography
Posted by *~Nightshadow~* on May 19, 2008 in
Classes I take,
Miscellaneous,
My new camera I may have overextended myself a bit this session. In addition to the Blogging class, I’m also taking Painter AutoPalettes, Photography 102, and Digital Photography 101. I’m learning so much in the photography classes. For Week 1 of Digital Photograpy we only posted photos of things we liked to take pictures of, but in week 2, Ron had us do experiments with exposure. We were to take photos of backlit objects, one photo on complete auto settings and then a second photo using whatever exposure compensation we preferred (or a combination of several). For my assignment I used varying shutter speeds and for the very first time ever, the EV setting on my camera.
So far, I’ve only posted 2 subjects. One was a white rose, and the adjustments didn’t seem to change the photo very much, but the second subject was a cut glass candle holder in front of a sliding glass door and I was really amazed at the difference adjusting the EV made.
Check out the photos here.
I’m just so excited to finally learn how to use all the manual settings on my new camera, including, what to me, are the more obscure ones, like EV.
If you have a digital camera that you only use on the auto setting and would like a better understanding of how to use it, I highly recommend this class.
Digital Photography @LVSonline
The next LVS session begins on 8/30/08, registration opens on 7/28/08.
See you around campus!
Tags: EV adjustments, Lvs classes, Photography
