Week one, two sickies

Can you believe it is the first whole week of school and I have two kids home? Some yucky cold, croupy, thing.

Good thing I bought myself a new toy to play with.

I have been wanting this lens forever! And saving my pennies to get it.

Andy has it lucky that I am not a girl that shops for clothes all the time. I buy my Lucky jeans and Juicy t-shirts at TJ Maxx. I go to the Gap or Old Navy and stock up on t-shirts, usually white and gray. Simple. For shoes I have three kinds I like- J Crew flip flops, Dr. Martins, and Uggs. So depending on the season… I have simplified my wardrobe.

Where he doesn’t get off easy is that I like expensive toys. So therefore I try to buy them myself. First I had to explain to him my reason for wanting yet another lens. About the difference between plastic “glass” lenses and real glass lenses. I have one glass lens- my ginormous zoom. Well until yesterday, when I bought myself another one. I was so excited I just sat and stared at it for a while, trying not to jump up and down around it.

I had an hour before I had to pick Cole up from Kindergarten. I decided to head down to Clintonville (a neighborhood about 5 minutes from my house). See I have this love affair with Clintonville. Andy and I bought our first house there after college. A cool old 1920’s house that I loved and still love. I knew the house was meant to be ours when I went in the basement and there was a darkroom. I had just finished college with an art/photography major and I thought it was a sign. This house was ours. Truth be told I used that darkroom very little because of things like going digital, having a baby, etc. But…. it was still perfect. At the end of our street was an awesome little bagel shop that we walked to all the time, and across the street from that was Midwest Photo Exchange– that had all things photo that I needed.

Ok, where was I going with this? Oh yeah- I got this idea yesterday that if I went down to Midwest and they had my lens it was time to bite the bullet and buy it. Every where else I have looked has been sold out.

So Eva and I head down there and sitting on the shelf- my lens.

I bought it, and THEN texted Andy and broke the news. His reply, “whoa”. He really couldn’t have been surprised though- I have been talking about it forever. And I would have told him first but he has a tendency to ignore my texts, emails, and phone calls when he is at work. If I had to wait for his reply, it would have ruined the moment for me. And it’s all about the moment. 🙂

So, my new baby came home with me. I finally broke it out for a few shots-

This first one I shot it RAW, uploaded it to LR and then did a preset that faded the colors. Not sure how I like it because it almost has that creepy eye effect that I don’t like. But they are really just huge catch lights from shooting on our screened porch- you can see my shadow in her eyes. Love it when that happens.

Same process with this one, just did a different preset that was supposed to give it a “soft” effect.

And then one more

I think I used the same preset on this one as I did on the first shot.

And lets just stop for a second and admire that beagle mutt face. Seriously- how can you not love dogs.

Since I don’t do a lot of post-processing, at least not yet- I loved the fact that the images came straight out of the camera looking so sharp. Which is what I had read was a huge bonus with this lens. Someday, when I am not so lazy busy I will push more into the world of post processing. Or maybe not. I am in LOVE with Lightroom. It is perfect for my needs at this point.

Of course Andy came home from work and asked if this lens is what it will take for me to take the plunge into photography as more than a hobby- something I have thrown around forever. Not sure. I do know I still have a lot to learn. And lovin’ every minute of it.