Thursday, June 14, 2007

it's raining lens(es)

so, this past week was a good week, for cameras.

i recently had the opportunity to 'foster' a nikon d70 digital slr, for a few months. it was a wonderful machine, with a great lens, and a great opportunity to get to know a wonderful camera. i worked hard, saved my pennies and finally picked up a digital slr of my own- the d70's big brother, the nikon d80. it's got a fantastic lens on it- an 18-135 zoom- with lots of creative room to move. and it's really, really fun to shoot with.

poppies on the hill

(i snapped these poppies up in the berkeley hills, on grizzly peak. being a california native poppies are, of course, my favorite.)

my only complaint about the d80, thus far, is that it just isn't heavy enough, which gives me trouble in the image stabilization department. i guess that's one of the great things about the old bricks that we shoot film with!

speaking of film, i also picked up a second canon a1- it was a great deal on ebay and, well, i simply can't find my other one! it came with two lenses- a 50 mm and a 20-85 zoom. i haven't shot a test roll yet, but so far the camera looks to be in perfect shape. i'll report back once i've developed some film!

in the meantime, here's a snap i took with my (original) canon a1 this past september, on my trip to chicago:

chi_midsears
(click to view large)

Saturday, June 02, 2007

on fruit and film cameras

so last night, despite my stay-home tendencies, i dragged my better half's roommate out to T-Rex to meet up with said better half, and another friend. we don't go to T-Rex much, even though the boys all qualify for a 25% discount there. but, you know, sometimes you just need a good order of mac n' cheese with house smoked pork.
i wasn't really in a drinking mood, so the bartender whipped up her current favorite non-alcoholic beverage. i'm not sure if it had a name, but it was basically fresh grapefruit juice, fresh grated ginger, sugar and tonic water. it was simple, unassuming, refreshing and really freakin' tasty.

ginger and grapefruit was not a combination that i had really thought of before, but it certainly sits well with me. i've been eager to do some baking- or at least eager to think about doing some baking- so i started looking up some recipes to work with. a search for "ginger" turned up this recipe for ginger + grapefruit cheesecake.. um, yes please? i'll have to give it a go, and report back.

of course, i'd be doing this baking in my new kitchen, since i moved recently. another great thing about moving? losing stuff! well, maybe not so great. i cannot, for the life of me, seem to find my beloved Canon A1, a gift from the college photo lab, years ago. i mean, it has to be somewhere, right? but i have no idea where. a quick peek at eBay turned up a great deal on an A1 in excellent condition, from an estate. two lenses, original manual, strap, et al. so, i went for it.

another camera may the last thing that i needed, but i do love the A1, and it's a good piece of equipment. i'll be sure to put it to good use.