Photography and me

I have always liked photography... I enjoyed the time when the parents would take out the diaprojector and diases and we would sit and look at all those interesting photos. But taking photos was father's domain and so I never really got the chance to try myself in the art of photography.

I bought my first camera - it was a point and shoot 35 mm pocket snapper (Yashica I think) when I already had a job. It took nice photos but that was that. The films had to be developped and photos ordered and that wasn't cheap. And the fixed wide angle lens didn't allow for much variety in framing motives.

A couple of years passed and I got another compact 35 mm camera, this time with a zoom lens. I took some nice shots with it but once the lab destroyed two of my films (with some valuable photos), I had enough and put the camera away and forgot about photography for several years.

The digital era reestablished my interest in photography and I got my first digital camera - a compact Canon Powershot A620 just over two years ago. That's when my affection with photography really began. The camera was great (in fact, it still is - and I carry it everywhere because it is small and handy and fits in a purse or a pocket) and I snapped photos on every occasion. I had no idea about composition or the meaning of shutter speed and apperture and stuff like that, I simply enjoyed taking photos. However, after about a year and a half I felt I needed to make a step forward. So, a DSLR was a natural choice. I had no previous experience with such cameras so I settled for an entry model and soon (but not without trouble) became a proud owner of a Canon EOS 400D (Digital Rebel XTi on US market, I think) and I'm still learning to use it.

I take photography as a hobby and have never had any commercial interest in it. I have still too much to learn to be able to say I take good photos. Well, some turn out well and I have an eye for finding motives but I still lack the knowledge and experience. And processing photos is yet another thing I know almost nothing about.

Water...

...fascinates me

Stuff

I'm sure you noticed there was no post here last night. Oh well, I had a hectic day. Busy as hell at work and I had to attend my French class afterwards. No need to say I came home as drained as could be.

Had a better day today, though. The weather looked promising in the morning so I just drove around through a snowy landscape, although I must admit I didn't expect all the snow (and sorry, no photos) and then found a nice inn along the road where we had a delicious lunch.

Later on, we were almost caught in a thunderstorm but escaped by a whisker. And just when the sun was about to set, the sky began to clear again...



this photo was taken a few minutes after the sunset

Farewell winter?

The last boxcar of a southbound freight train is disappearing behind the greening bushes. Is it carrying the winter away? Let's hope so...

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost

Light

Oh well, after a number of colourless wet slushy days the sky cleared for a wonderful, if chilly, morning. It didn't stay clear for long, most of the day was still covered in clouds of various shapes and forms. But the evening brought another display of colour... this particular shot was taken a little too late but I hope it gives the idea how it all looked.

Some more thoughts about food

As an adolescent and way into my 20s I could eat huge amounts of food without putting on any weight at all. I was slim, almost skinny, and would love to gain a few kilos at the time. I was an active basketball player, though, and needed all the energy I could get.

My wish to gain some weight came true all too soon. I was still active but got my first job at the office and that slowed down my pace to some extent which soon resulted in a slight increase of weight. But the radical change occurred when I quit playing sports. I was used to quantities of food my body no longer needed and inevitably, the figures on the scales moved up until they reached a level which made me think and decide I needed to do something. So I did and managed to reduce weight to an acceptable level, learning to eat much less in the process. But sweets, chocolate in particular, are still irresistible to me.

Then there are occasions like family reunions where food is abundant and hard to resist. And I almost always eat too much at these gatherings. The parents' conviction, perhaps, that I still need volumes of food, and my reflex to eat everything I am served on a plate like I was taught as a child. Anyway, overeating doesn't feel good and neither does being overweight and I know both all too well.