I remember walking around Lambton Quay with a friend and happening to look around a camera shop at the available selection. The Nikon D70s was on display and I indicated, with not a word of a lie, that I didn’t believe that I could get value out of that price range of camera – I just wouldn’t use it enough. Times change.

Only 3 months following the purchase of a Nikon D40, I’ve managed to add to my collection. The picture is kinda deceiving. The third camera in that ring is a Pentax P30 that I bought from a coworker when I was living in Christchurch. I never really got value out of that camera; I never knew how to use it. After a few months with a digital SLR, that began to change. Photo & Video International was having a clearance on film bodies, so I grabbed a Nikon F801

So far, I’ve only developed one roll of film from this camera. I’ve just put in a roll of black-and-white, so the next set may take a bit longer to push through. In the meantime, here are a couple samples from the first set:

Two areas of growth have been pushing me to the edge of available hard drive space on my desktop at home. Firstly, and the larger of the two, is music. I transported all of my music in mp3 format to New Zealand when I moved over. I still own all of the CDs that they came from, but they’re living in a series of boxes back in Canada. Since moving, I’ve filled – overfilled – another box with music purchased since moving. This accounts for well over half of the data stored on my computer. Secondly, with the purchase of a new digital SLR, I have been adding to my photo collection at a phenomenal rate. Both November and December have exceeded all months preceding in terms of numbers of photos stored on disk. As I learn more about editing, I am sure that my storage requirements are going to increase quickly.

To solve the problem, I took the advice from a technology article (not online) from The Dominion Post which talked about external drives. As a result, I now have 500GB of USB-pluggable space in a Seagate FreeAgent package. It’s cute and sits out of the way quite nicely. The only drawback isn’t really a drawback – I don’t mind the external power supply.

I have moved over about 15% of my music already, but I want to test it out a bit better before I get too far in. I’d hate to think that I could lose any data by trusting the drive a bit too much.

I didn’t realise that this was going to happen quite so soon, but I’ve bought a second lens for my Nikon D40. I was able to grab one of 3 Nikkor 50mm f1.8D lenses that arrived in Wellington last week.

I saw it in the window of Colin Kirk Photographics long after the store had closed for the night. After a couple weeks of asking around and hearing of zero stock in the city, it was just sitting there. The wise decision to call and have it put on hold did not come from me, so I’m thankful for the advice. One of the three had walked out the door just as I’d walked in to pick up my new toy.

I managed to take my time getting home and opening everything up. It’s kinda necessary to curb one’s excitement from time to time. I think this was one of those. I could easily spend the whole night experimenting, ignoring little details like hunger, thirst and sleep.

Being a fixed focal length lens, I have to actually move to compose a shot. There’s something strangely satisfying about that, but there are obvious limitations, like stepping off of ledges or backing into people. Given time, experimentation should become education and instinct – I’ll know who to push out of the way and when.

When combined with the D40, the AF version of this lens¹ is manual focus only. This means that I will need to learn to focus with my eyes, which will be a new experience; my astigmatism may have something to say about that. But if I’m going to take a picture of anything in motion, I will need to be able to track it. I’ve tried a few skating shots, but my hit rate is absurdly low so far. It’s a nice wide lens, but opening it up narrows the focal depth and forces me to be accurate – not possible so far.

I expect that I’ll get a lot of practise in the short term. I will be on vacation for a week just following Christmas, starting with a train ride. I’m looking forward to stretching myself and trying to make the manual focus work for me. For now, I’ll just look for the little green dot in the bottom of the screen.

¹ There isn’t an AF-S version, and there probably won’t be

After spending a week with my friend’s digital SLR, I’ve made a purchase of my own. I am now the proud owner of one Nikon D40 kit. It’s quite light in the hand and seems to produce quite vivid colours. I am struggling to get decent indoor skating pictures out of it, but that’ll have to do with the amount of available light. I still have tons to learn.

Part of my research, deciding if the D40 was a capable camera, was to poke around on some of the Flickr groups. There are dedicated groups to several types of cameras and bits of advice about almost everything¹. I was warned early on that I was getting into an expensive hobby and I can see what they mean. I’m already considering a couple extras to go with the camera.

From time to time, I’ll push photo entries through here, linking off to my Flickr account. It should make the blog a bit brighter and look a little lived in.

Edit 2008–12-02: Adding image of the new toy, taken with a Pentax K100D.

¹ I also stumbled upon my new favourite addiction: a group called Urban Poetry. So much to look at.

Over the past few months, I’ve been playing with my 35mm SLR again. The problem is that I don’t really know how to use it; I’ve yet to understand fully the relationships between shutter speed, aperture and lighting to the point where I could predict the outcome. I still guess and test, partly because I don’t directly see the causes relating to the effects. As a result, I’ve decided to have a look at digital SLRs.

I’ve done some basic research – Digital Photography Review is awesome – but I’m still looking for some hands-on time. Luckily, one of my friends was willing to lend me her Pentax K100D to try out. I’ve taken it outdoors and tried it indoors. Results are mixed, but I’d expect nothing less at my level of experience.

No matter what camera I walk away with, I expect that my flickr account will see a boost over the next while.

I was kindly informed by my flatmate that Wellington Hatters Ltd is soon to be closing down and is currently offering the remaining hats at 50%. As part of the shopping trip for our flatwarming party, we’d stopped off to see if I could get sorted out. I’m pretty happy with the result.

I’d been hesitant about hats for a long time, but it’s important to find something that suits me. The fedora is a bit too wide-brimmed for my liking and the bowler I tried sat up too high. I think it’s just a matter of trying a few out and seeing what I can find. We’re considering hosting a hat-themed party next month. That leaves about 3 weeks to see if I can find something better than my new trilby.

While walking down to the farmers’ market last Sunday, I happened to spot a book lying on the footpath. Anne of Avonlea – it should have twigged, but I didn’t realise what it was until doing the title search. There’s not much obvious damage to it. It appears to have all of its pages. I might even give it a read before taking it back to Arty Bees.

So, is the world a better place because I’ve saved a book from the gutter? Hard to say. There’s slightly less rubbish on the streets of Wellington. But if you’re a fan of Jasper Fforde, there are probably some very relieved characters who were pulled back from the brink of disaster.

Ages ago, I was given a knife. It was nice. So nice, that I eventually brought it back from Canada with me. Unfortunately, there was a fracture in the handle, presumably from some long-passed event. It fell apart in the hands of my flatmate not long after I’d returned with it. I’ve been struggling away with crap knives ever since – low weight, horrible edge, flimsy, gaaahh! Finally suffering a shocking case of mutilation of some poor, unsuspecting chorizo sausage, I reached a breaking point. I didn’t snap and go for anything top-of-the-line, but it’s not the cheapest knife on the block, either. Fully forged with a riveted handle, it feels good and glides through tomato. It actually kinda glides through most anything at the moment. Butternut squash, anyone?

After spending a few days digesting the soundtrack from Les 7 Doigts de la Main, I have come to have an appreciation for much of the music that was used. I was already familiar with Temptation, as performed by Holly Cole, but found myself captivated by Santa Maria.

I had originally taken a quick look through a shop the other day, but didn't really have time to find what I was after. On my walk home today, I was able to collect the CD that Santa Maria came from. I had heard the name Gotan Project before, but never at the same time as hearing the music. After only 5 minutes at the listening booth, I had decided that I found exactly what I was after. La Revancha del Tango was mine.

I am still on the first listen, but am suitably impressed. There are many european flavours, with a touch of electronic and live drumming. (There are samples loaded within the flash animation on the website. Coincidently, it was the same song that was playing on the CD player at the time, providing a very interesting effect.) The biography speaks of argentinians exiled in Paris, which does make sense as I listen.

It would be a safe bet to assume that this CD will be taking up a regular spot in my playlist, and should be making an appearance on my audioscrobbler charts in the near future.

I don't think I actually intend to buy half of the stuff that I get. Most of it never graces my wishlist. It just falls directly into my hands. Neither of the two things that I bought today were planned, but I've been thinking of both of them for a while.

While I was cutting through Borders today, I glanced at the new releases shelf, as always. There are a few interesting things in there, but I didn't dwell. Since I had just finished my run, I was sweaty and smelly. Definitely not people friendly. Continuing across the store, I noticed that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell was still on special. I had glanced a couple times at it, read through the first 30 pages or so in the café. I guess the time has come.

Slightly earlier on in the day, I happened to be walking past Thievery Corporation's Outernational Sound, but can't find it for less than $30. I took a listen to The Mirror Conspiracy and ended up walking away with it. It should be a nice addition to the randomiser.