THEMACGIRL*

Please vote for my photo @ JPG magazine. $100 is in it for me if it shows up in the magazine, and you have until February. If I win, I’ll give out personal hugs for anyone in a 50-mile radius! Heh-heh.

Last night Rob and I ventured out in the cold weather, and we headed to downtown Louisville to take long exposure photos. The photo to the left Rob took, and the lower one I took.

The photo of me wasn’t a long exposure; Rob simply placed his strobe on the ground in front of me. I was really surprised how dark everything behind me looks, given the fact the bridge (2nd Street) that we were on was fairly lit up. I imagine as he took these photos he blinded many drivers as they passed by. Fortunately, there were no accidents! Heh.

By the end of the night, I wasn’t sure how I felt about my photos. Compared to Rob, who has been doing this much longer than I have, my photos were pretty mediocre. However, I was happy to find a few that I did like this morning. The photo below was taken with Rob’s 16-35mm f/2.8 L lens. I’m really surprised that he let me borrow it, considering that I told him I was going to steal his 5D Mark II camera when/if he bought it! O;-)

I’ve been saving a little money here and there for a new lens to replace my kit lens. I’m torn between a wide angle or a lens with a focal point similar to the kit lens (18-55mm). I’ve been eyeing the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 and the Canon 17-40mm f/4 L lens. The 17-40mm would be wide enough for what I’ll be using it for, but I love the look of most photos taken with an ultra-wide angle lens. I have to add that Rob’s 16-35mm f/2.8 L lens was really nice…. but definitely out of my price range! I think the lens itself is more than I’ve invested overall in my camera collection. Ha!

I recently found a very cool application that turns photos into polaroids called Poladroid. Having had a polaroid camera and buying film for said camera it’s nice to have a *free* way of having polaroids without spending a fortune on film. Not to mention that the film is being phased out, so once it is gone you’ll be spending a lot of money for it on eBay. The photos in this entry were either from my DSLR or Holga originally that were turned into polaroids, pretty cool huh?

My only complaint with the application is that it doesn’t seem to read .cr2 (RAW) photos, that or my computer has a heart attack when it tries to. It has to be the application, because my Powerbook hasn’t let me down yet. Sorry Windows users, but there’s not a version for you just yet. This should be even more reason for you to make the switch to a real computer. JUST KIDDING! ( Not really! :) ) Here are some other photos that I’ve used with the Poladroid application:

I’ve already started thinking about possible traveling in 2009, yes, it’s a little early, but I always like to have things to look forward to. I’m pretty sure my Mom and I will be visiting my brother Roy in Seattle at some point. I really, really would love to take a cross-country road trip somewhere. Seattle would probably be the perfect trip, however, I don’t see myself enjoying that with my Mom. A road trip like that would be more enjoyable with someone around my age. I’m not really sure what brought this on, other than the fact it would be a great photo opportunity. I really hope this happens, but it’s going to be hard finding someone I could spend that much time with and the potential for high gas prices again. I’ve been enjoying the low gas prices in Kentucky, I think the cheapest I’ve seen has been $1.83. Unfortunately, gas will be back up to $4/gallon before we know it. What is the cheapest you’ve seen gas in your area?