Smile! Paparazzi coming through

One of my classes this semester has been photojournalism, and let me say I have enjoyed it more than I ever thought I possibly could. I have fallen in love with telling stories with pictures. This is not that far of a stretch for me though, given the nature of my mind.

For my last assignment/volunteer photography job I shot the area 18 Special Olympics. And, no... I am not sharing those pictures here. I gave those pictures to area 18 and I will not distribute them. However, the Special Olympics for area 18 happened to be the same weekend that my oldest daughter's senior prom was. I was privileged to take her prom pictures.

Let's face it, using the Canon 5d Mark II has been enjoyable. And I would love to have a good camera for myself.

I am sure these are not the BEST prom pictures ever seen in the world, but I am happy with the job I was able to do. Having only used the camera I believe a total of three times and never using anything aside from a point and shoot prior.

But now I am addicted. I WANT a camera that will give me good pictures. That is where my budget starts screaming. I am looking at a Canon T3i with two lenses, the 18-55mm IS and the 55-250mm IS. Needless to say, it is not cheap. Too bad poor college students aren't tax deductible when they have families of their own.

I can always dream though and hopefully one day it will happen, because I really enjoy taking pictures. Who knows, I do graduate in December.

Picture Worth a Thousand Words

If somebody had told me at the beginning of this semester my favorite class would be the photojournalism class, I am not sure I would have believed them.

However, now that I am getting used to borrowing the school’s Canon 5D and using it in manual mode I am having fun with it.

Today I took the big camera out on a trip to Montgomery Bell State Park (Dickson County, Tennessee) and enjoyed taking some good (hopefully) pictures. I had fun, the kids had fun getting out.

I did also take a couple pictures with my DROID 4 and I can only say if I managed to capture the same shot with the 5D, I will be ecstatic.

Stairway to Falls

I love this shot. Getting this shot was not exactly easy and I thought I was going to have to make a call for help. In order to get down on this side of the spillway, there was a steep hill and we had a good rain a couple days ago so things were a little slick. I got down the hill safely, got the picture I wanted with my phone and I hope I have it on the camera. I say hope because the card reader  have at the house is refusing to work. Took a few more pictures, and then made my way back up the hill. (Just in case anybody from APSU is reading, the camera is in perfect condition. No harm came to it.)

Let’s just say, my bad knee REALLY hurts. But, the shot is gorgeous… isn’t it?

What have you done for a picture?

I am looking forward to is having more inspiration for my writing. And, I am enjoying taking pictures. If I do pursue journalism, being able to take my own pictures is a huge advantage.