mayday 2010 - sycamore rim trail

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oh, the beautiful smallness

I am so inspired by this Nikon Photomicrography - and it's a contest, no less. I could easily wallpaper entire rooms with some of these lovely organic patterns.

And while I don't have the equipment necessary to get into this type of shutterbugging, the D-80 and I have been playing around a bit with distance and movement in recent months. In August, for instance, I was driving out to the prairie house when I looked up and spotted this Red-tailed hawk atop a windmill (at least I'm pretty sure it's a RTH - any birders want to correct me?). I high-tailed it home, grabbed the camera and drove back to the spot with my fingers crossed, trying to switch lenses while I steered around the potholes in the horrendous cinder road. Luckily, the hawk was still there, and I was back in time to get some shots of its perching and its flight.

Okay, so I don't expect National Geographic to start knocking on my door any time soon (other than to ask me to renew my subscription - lol), but in my defense I was working on the spur of the moment and without a tripod.

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genius of love

My alternate title for this post was "I'm... in... heaaaaaaven... (with my camera, my laughing camera)." As you can see from this shot of our Aussie, I am no pro photographer (or even a talented amateur, for that matter), but bear in mind that this is one of my first attempts at shooting with this thing right out of box (in crappy light, with a moving target, etc.).

And I think I'm in love.

I won't bore you with all the details, but basically my research took me from deciding on the Canon EOS Rebel xTi (you know, the one that's all over the glossy mags), to the Pentax K10D (because, heck, it's a Pentax!), to the Sony A100 (because love it or hate it, it's a pretty screaming deal for the money), to the Nikon D80 (because, ultimately, the images I saw from this thing blew everything else in its price range out of the water (for me) when it came to the incredible detail and colors that pop right out at you).

This was a substantial (bordering on painful) investment for me, one that I've been saving up for and researching for several months now, so don't think I post my acquisition of this new toy in any kind of a "neener-neener, I got a cool new camera just 'cause I wanted one" kind of way. I've bought cameras for myself before - notably, my Canon EOS Rebel 35 mm that I got in the early 90's, when a deadhead in Santa Cruz walked up to me and said, "Hey, man, I need tickets to the Dead show. You want this camera for forty bucks?"

"Is it stolen?" I asked him.

"No way, man."

"Okay then. Good enough for me."

But I've never bought a camera quite like this, and I'm a little intimidated by the steep granite face of the learning curve looming before me. All I can say is it's a good thing the place where I bought it threw in a bunch of photography lessons. So, you know where to find me at 10 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning.Follow @nicole_mcinnes