First thing’s first: I opened a Flickr account! So now you have even more ways to stalk me! I’ve had a growing interest in taking photos for quite some time now; photography is an activity that I’ve been interested in for years, but couldn’t really afford to get into. It can be a rather expensive hobby for those who want to get real slick control over how their photos will turn out. Over the years I’ve had a few consumer level cameras and was never happy with the results. When I went on my honeymoon I had to borrow a point and click camera from my mother in law as my camera had broken years ago. I got some snaps on that trip that I was happy with largely because they were capturing memories, but was rather frustrated both with the fact that it was a borrowed cam and that I just couldn’t get the fine tuned control I wanted to get when it came to focusing on specific objects or the shutter speed. I decided that I didn’t want to go on more vacations without getting a “proper” camera of my own and so in November 2009 after doing my research, I splurged on a Canon 7D.
Fast forward to September 11, 2010. I’d just looked at about six apartments in my quest to find a more permanent place to lay my head at night and decided to stop off at Bondi Beach for some photo ops. I’d gone by briefly one day but hadn’t had the time to really stick around. This time I brought my 50 mm 1.8 II, as well as my EFS 10-22mm lens. I started at the south end of the beach, and did a little bit of climbing on the cliffs looking for some interesting features on the rocks to photograph, and then eventually worked my way to the northern end, stopping about halfway along the beach to get some photos of the massive kites that were flying in anticipation of the kite festival that would take place the next day. I then continued on my way toward the cliffs at the northern end and eventually out onto the rocks. Bondi is a rather impressive beach in my opinion. Nothing really compares to the sand dunes of Prince Edward Island’s beaches, but there’s a reason that this is such a well known beach. I really do have to recommend you take a look at the photos I’ve made available at the very least, but you should also pack your bags and go see it for yourself. Aside from the cliffs, there are some fantastic splashes that happen on the rocks at the northern end that are a pretty impressive spectacle to bear witness too.
The thing that you need to keep in mind however, is that water is a force to be reckoned with. Many people fall victim to these splashes each year… mostly unaware tourists who don’t really get how quickly the swells can grow in size. This unfortunately includes myself. While I was getting closer and closer to these splashes getting video and photos, I hadn’t realized that the swells were getting larger too. I thought I was safe enough, but eventually a wave came in that instead of splashing against the rocks, swept right over it. This brought just enough water over the rocks that it was impossible for me to retain my footing and I was swept backward, over the rocks, and into a pool of salt water. I got only some minor wounds… some surface cuts on my legs, belly, arms, and feet… and in fact appear to have fixed an injury that I’d developed in my knee earlier in the year. Unfortunately my new iphone that I’d purchased not a month earlier, my canon 7d, and my two lenses fell victim to the salt water. I attempted to flush everything with spirits and fresh water… but the electronics had all been on at the time, the lenses aren’t weather sealed, and I wasn’t able to get any of it properly taken care of before the heat had already caused the parts to start drying. It was a very expensive day for me with little consolation but that my memory card still worked and I was not seriously harmed.
Now, for the happy ending. November 23rd was my last blog post, but it was also when my wife was en route to Sydney to join me, and with her, she brought a brand new Canon 7d. Huzzah! I’ve now decided that photography is too expensive for it to remain purely a hobby. With that new 7d also came me having to replace my 50mm 1.8 II (which I “upgraded” to a 50mm 1.4) and repair my 10-22 mm lens. Cameras and lenses are expensive, and I can’t justify all this expense unless it’s more than just me enjoying the photos. This is the reason why I’ve started my flickr account, and this is why in the near future I plan on redesigning my site again to have more of a photo centric point of view. There are more lenses I want, and I’d really like to be able to pick them up by selling prints of my work. I’ve done a few for myself, and one for my parents for Christmas, and would like to think that there are people out there that would like some for themselves. In the meantime, I’d also like to point to some sites out there where people can go to find information on photography if they’re interested in getting more into it. I haven’t taken any courses in it, and have either found these sites to be very helpful, or am looking forward to looking at them some more as I need them.
- Canon EOS Beginners FAQ – Wow. This one is intimidating. It’s very comprehensive, but I can’t tell you how amazing it was to have something like this to read when trying to figure out what all the camera jargon is, and how lenses differ. This is the mother load of information right here, and it’s not for the weak of heart. I learned so much from this FAQ.
- What lenses for my digital SLR (Canon) – Some short and simple suggestions of what some lenses are that you may want to pick up if you’re shooting with a Canon DSLR.
- The Best Canon EOS Lenses – Bob Atkins Photography – Another great resource if you’re looking for some quick suggestions for the best lenses available.
- Photography-on-the.net – An invaluable resource, the link in particular that I’ve linked to, where you can really see what type of photos a given lens will provide. These forums are a fantastic place to go for info and while I’m essentially just a ghost on there, looking but not contributing, I can’t stress enough how useful I find this site.
- Canon & Nikon Digital SLR Camera and Lens Reviews at The-Digital-Picture.com – While the above link may be fantastic as a forum, and for meta-review, I find that this link is another great place to go for a more detailed, coherent review on various equipment. Personally, if I’m spending hundreds of dollars on a piece of equipment, I like to know what it is I’m getting myself into. The more info, the better.
- Lensplay – Find A Lens – While the sites listed above will talk generally about what lenses are the best, this is more of a database that lets you search based on focal length, aperture, or price. Lenses have a reasonably detailed description and will specify whether the lenses are weather proof or not and are user rated so it’s a pretty decent resource when you know you want to start looking for a specific type of lens. Also helpful since you’ll be able to find lenses from lots of different manufacturers.
- LensHero | DSLR Lenses – This one is a brand new website, but it seems like it is also quite useful. I own a Canon and so of course tend to look at Canon centric sites for my information, but this is a handy lens centric site that will allow you to see what’s compatible with your camera whether it’s a Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Fujifilm, Olympus… the list goes on. You type in your camera body, specify your budget, and a broad style of lens that you are looking for. The results are a little odd to me… I can’t figure out why they’re listed in the order that they are…it doesn’t appear to be alphabetical, or by price, or by the field of view… but the results are useful if you’re constrained to a particular budget and want to find a lens that you can afford. Each result comes up with a small blurb and some ratings, and you can click on it to get some more detail. My personal opinion though is that the site doesn’t have detailed enough descriptions about the lenses to make this worthy of being the only place to look for info. I feel like I’d rather search for a lens based on my needs and worry about the price later… but perhaps that isn’t the same agenda that everyone has, and it’s always nice to have a few sources to go to to find information since this is an expensive activity.
- Great Colour in Blurb Books – A Terrific hour-long video that a friend of mine sent me just last week that details how to predict what your colours will look like in print.
- Gizmodo Photo Challenges – Love these. I’ve only presently had the time to participate in but a single one of these challenges myself, but it’s fantastic seeing the results each week of these challenges. I certainly hope to participate in more of these in the future. They’re very inspiring and I hope Gizmodo keeps it up.