The Hunting Trip

Well I am back now, and I had a lot of fun. But I didn't really get to take a lot of pictures, especially of wildlife. We were so busy trying to put some meat in the freezer that I didn't get to take pictures from the stand.

But I did get some landscape photos. :)

There wasn't a single cloud in the sky until we were leaving, and I am really not a big fan of cloudless landscape pictures but I think these came out pretty well.

These last 4 were taken with my lensbaby. :) The more I use it the more I love it, it is an amazing little lens.

Please let me know what you think!

Exciting News!!!!!

I have a couple of new editions to my gear now!!!!! Actually I have a whole now load out. :)

I am now officially Nikon user!! I own a Nikon D7000, with a Nikon 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 VrII, Nikon 35mm f1.8, the Lensbaby composer with double glass optic, and the Nikon SB-900 flash.

Originally I was going to get just the D7000 and the Nikon 24-70 f2.8 lens, but that didn't give me much of a range. I know the 18-200 isn't a pro lens and all that but it is one that I can just throw on the camera and go hiking or what not.





And what do I have to put all this in? I got the Lowepro Slingshot 302 AW. Right now I have a lot of extra space, but it gives me room to grow.

These first 2 shots are the best I have so far using the Lensbaby Composer.

The next photo was shot with the 35mm f1.8. Shot at 1.8

And last but not least is the 18-200mm lens.

I shot this at 18mm. 

I haven't even read the manual for my camera yet but I wanted to post about it and take some pictures. I can't wait to really dive into all the cool features of my camera. 

I am leaving tomorrow (Wednesday) to go on a hunting trip so I will be able to take some wildlife shot, I hope. 

Using Flash in Outdoor Portraiture

Yes! I did indeed use a flash for these shots, and no I did not photoshop the background into the picture.

I used the flash to light my subject but had my shutter speed slow enough that it was open longer then the flash, thus allowing the ambient light to fill in. 

My first attempt at ghosting.

Houston Fire Fest at the Fire Academy

So here is the post I promised you! Last saturday was super fun. The only thing that could have made it better were clouds in the sky..... There wasn't a single cloud anywhere, well that is until the fire demonstrations started then there were black clouds.

Oh, I also shot this event in RAW without knowing. I forgot I had turned it to RAW the night before to experiment and didn't put it back on JPEG. I didn't find out until I put the pics on my computer.

There were a lot of old fire trucks and you could actually get in some of them!

And of course....... what's a festival with out turkey legs!!!

And the first demonstration was a diesel tanker fire. Which put out a super thick cloud of black smoke. It was so thick that you couldn't even see the sun through it. 

After the demonstration some of the firefighter autographing stuff.  

I don't know about you but I think this guy is the cutest fire chief in the world!!!! 

The next demonstration was a flashover. That is when the firefights go in a room and the fire flashes over their heads.

Next was a bus fire and extraction. They used real people inside the bus, although those people were in the fire academy. So they had some training. :)

Then they did a Propane tanker fire demonstration, which smelled the worst.

O.K. I am starting to think they have a fire station for little boys now........ Again one of the cutest firemen I have seen. :P 

Alright so in the bus on the way back to the car I had this idea of taking a picture of my sister (who was sitting in front of me) through the reflection of the window. I am not sure how well it worked out, but what do you think? 

Inks Lake

Alright!!! I know this post has been a long time coming. Anyway these pics are from our trip to Inks Lake up near Austin, Texas. It is a beautiful place. 

So this was our first night at the state park and the view from out camping spot. These first 3 photos are long exposures, 20 to 30 seconds. 

So the second day we woke up and did our morning devotions and then I tried to get a reflection photo of a camp site across the water from us. I wish the water was more calm but it is what it is. :)

Mom doing her devotions.

Then later that day we went over to the Devil's Waterhole and jumped of the cliff! It was a ton of fun!!!

This is the cliff that we jumped off of. 

Then we went to one of the fishing piers so I could take some pictures.

Day 3 consisted of staying around camp for awhile then we went into Austin to se the Capitol! 

This was just 2 guys walking up the stairs and the light was crazy cool with the old looking stair rail. I really like this one.

The view from the front steps of the capitol.

Then the next day we went back to the Devil's Waterhole and I did some hiking.

The our las day came and after we got all packed up and hit the road we stopped at a scenic spot near the top of a hill and I snapped even more pictures. :) 

Now for some fun random pictures of our trip.
I know the quality of this video is not the greatest but that happened through the upload process and I can't fix it.... :(((

Also check back soon because I have a new post coming. We went to the Houston Fire Fest at the Firefighter Academy in Houston and I got some really cool picture. I will be posting them sometime Thursday. :)

OH NO!!!!!

As I sit here listening to the stupid hold music on the Apple support line I thought I would give y'all a bit of an update as to why I haven't posted in a while.

1) I have been busy with school and we went camping. (which you will see pics of)

2) My computers hard drive crashed last thursday and I just got my computer back yesterday and have been busy reinstalling all my stuff.

So I am just now starting to catch up on stuff now and will hopefully get my camp photos up. :)