Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Thundering Niagara Falls

The American Falls from Niagara, Ontario

In the heat and humidity of Central America, the cloud of mist and breeze at Niagara Falls is alluring.

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Snowny Swiss Alps

Standing in fresh powder in the Swiss Alps, Geneva, Switzerland

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Chatting with a Scarecrow

Schuyler Farms Corn Maze, Schuylerville, NY

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Buttermilk Falls

Gorge Trail, Buttermilk Falls State Park, Ithaca, NY

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria

Cured jamón ibérico and chorizos at La Boqueria market, Barcelona, Spain

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Forgotten Paris

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

Okay, you got me.  Paris certainly isn't forgotten. And the Eiffel Tower is probably one of the most recognized structures in the western world.  However, I completely forgot I had taken this picture.  Just goes to show that it pays to revisit your photographs since that's why you took them.

My First Wildlife Photo Shoot

The last few days I've driven home at sunset and thought how beautiful the area around my house is.  Today I got home a little earlier than usual so I grabbed my camera and headed down to the pond to try to take pictures of the ducks.  What I thought was going to be a 15 minute outing quickly turned into an hour long venture as I played peek-a-boo with four families of forest friends.  Once a upon a time ago I wanted to be a photographer for National Geographic but I don't think I'll be pursuing that dream just yet.  Wildlife photography is a lot harder than it looks.  Over the course of this hour I learned that (1) a telephoto lens is really hard to balance in low light, and (2) animals don't like to sit still while you fiddle with settings.  I also learned that muskrats are evil creatures but more on that later. I had just about finished attempting to focus on moving ducks when a small buck and doe walked out to the edge of the pond.  Of course by that time it was dark enough and far enough that very few of my pictures came out. A muskrat has taken up residence in the pond and taunted me by submerging just as I focused a frame and finally reappearing at the exact spot I was sitting as I headed home.  Out of 99 pictures I ended up with 12 keepers.  I was so frustrated especially because I had so many good frames that didn't come out in focus.  Even though I managed to shoot my first deer (and it's bigger than my brother's first), I plan on going back soon when there's a little more light, and maybe a box to hold my camera steady.

Sunset

The Ducks

My First Buck

Little Buck and a Little Doe

I really wanted a close up of a froggie but I couldn't hold the camera still enough

The Pond

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Brighton Beach

Charred Remains of West Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, England

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: At the Olympics

Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys or Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc, Barcelona, Spain, Summer Olympics 1992

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Finger Lakes Wine Country

Cayuga Ridge Winery, New York

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Lost in the Museum

Dinosaur Wing, Natural History Museum, London, England

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Paris in the Spring

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

Places I Would Rather Be on Monday Morning: Talking science in España

Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain

This Monday I learned that I will be traveling to Spain this July to participate in the International Carbohydrate Symposium in Madrid.  My abstract was chosen as one of the short talks or "flash communications" in the Young Investigator division.  I have a feeling that spending that much time in Madrid for a conference will be forcing myself to attend all of the conference.  Luckily, I think the boyfriend will be joining me for a long weekend in Barcelona after the conference.

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Crossing into Medieval Times

St. Charles Bridge (originally constructed 1357), Prague, Czech Republic

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Marveling at Tradition

Approaching Vatican City, Italia

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning:Taking Quality Control Statistics

Birthplace of the Student T Test, Guinness Storehouse, Dublin, Ireland

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Palm Tree Paradise

Isla Verde, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Tuscan Skyline

Firenze, Italia

Places I Would Rather be on Monday Morning: Brunching with the Queen

State Apartments, Windsor Castle, England

Make New Friends...

...but keep the old. One is silver and the other's blue?

After many years of devoted service through frat parties, birthdays, backpacking through Europe, and general abuse I decided to retire my Canon point and shoot.  I knew this day would come sooner or later so I had been looking around at different options.  Ever since I blew through a single use underwater camera in Jamaica, I've been coveting an underwater camera or housing so I wouldn't be limited to multiples of 24 pictures per snorkel outing.

Three generations of cameras

On the hand, I would love to upgrade to a dSLR.  Ever since I was little I've been intrigued by cameras and photos.  My dad worked for Kodak and my mom is a Christmas card picture perfectionist so I was bound to either love or hate photography.  I was almost done with high school by the time I reluctantly gave up on my childhood fantasy of being a national geographic/sports photographer.  By that time I had a film SLR camera and was learning to use it pretty well by the time I left for university.  However, I thought the better decision was to leave the SLR at home and away from the dorms.  Now, living safely away from campus and supposedly more mature, my trusty film camera is outdated and oddly constraining after shooting digital point and shoots with adjustable ISO and the like.  Unfortunately, dSLRs and even dSLR-bridge cameras are a bit of a stretch on my budget right now.  I also want to make sure I know if I want to take the intermediate step in a dSLR-bridge or take the plunge into dSLR world with all of its lenses and romance.

New Camera!

In the end, I went with the Panasonic DMC-TS3, one of the newer ruggized point and shoots.  The two major components that drew me to this camera were the 40ft waterproof rating and the color.  To be fair, I did scour Amazon, dpreviews, B & H photography, Best Buy and others for reviews on the camera before I made my final decision but those are the two characteristics that really stuck.  I also like that I can play with the shutter speed and have more ISO options than my Canon.  My gripe against the camera is its performance in low light.  Or rather complete lack of performance in low light.  I'm still hoping that I can figure out some magically combinations of setting to make them tolerable but for now I'm switching back and forth between the Panasonic and the canon depending on the situation.  

I would still like to level up in camera's before I start doing some serious traveling but I have something to tie me over for now.  I'm trying to figure out a way to experiment with both a dSLR and a dSLR-bridge camera before I make a decision.  

Anyone want to help me with some consumer research?

Some sample pictures from the Panasonic:

Patch Collection through a pinhole

Winter landscape

The details can get a little fuzzy

Artsy Underwater bubble shot (major reason for purchase)