Sunday, February 20, 2011

New Camera!!


Our old camera was never returned. I'm going to make myself feel good by saying that my Canon Rebel is sitting on the countertop of someone's quaint little apartment, used for taking pictures of their new baby because they were unable to have a camera of their own. Yes, that story makes me feel good. It's better than the (most likely) reality that it sits, all alone and squished amongst an array of stolen cameras in some cluttered pawn shop in Houston.

The good news is that insurance covers such happenings, so Scott and I were able to purchase a new camera a few days ago, and it arrived in it's lovely brown box yesterday! We went ahead and purchased the same model (a Canon EOS Rebel T1i), but chose a different lens than the 50mm f/1.8 that we had on the last camera. The package also came with an extra lens, an extra battery, and 3 lens filters! It was a steal of a deal and we are thoroughly enjoying every piece :-) The two lenses we now have are the standard Canon 18mm-55mm f/3.5 lens with an image stabilizer and the "extra" lens is a Tamron 70mm-300mm Macro zoom lens. The quality of the photos taken by the zoom lens is good, but the smoothness of the gliding of the lens is not great. You have to more or less force the lens to zoom in and out.

I have yet to play around with the lens filters. The UV lens filter is pretty standard, so I keep it on the lens all the time to protect the lens. The other two filters we have are a polarizing filter and an "FLD" filter.... haven't done enough research on either to really appreciate their uses yet, but that will come :-)

Here are a few of our first photos taken from the new camera! Raw and unedited!












Many, many more to come :-)



Blessings,

HK

Friday, February 18, 2011

sarah, the butterfly.


Many of you have been following my blog for a while now and know of my friend, Sarah.

She fought a hard fight against cancer and is now free, as of Wednesday morning at 4:15.

Sarah will be greatly missed, but her memory and legacy shines on.

For those of you who do not know of Sarah, please take time to visit her incredibly inspiring blog: sarahchidgey.blogspot.com

This is a letter I wrote to Sarah on the morning of her death:

Beautiful Sarah,



It is so sunny and wonderful here in Houston on this day. The birds were chirping so loud this morning. The breeze is a perfect kiss on my face. The leaves are rustling so gently. I can't help but feel enveloped by God's presence on such a beautiful day as this. But, I think even more of how the beauty you are experiencing now is something that I cannot even put my mind around. I am so comforted knowing that you have thousands of butterflies dancing around you and a multitude of roses for you to smell--but most of all, that you are holding hands with Jesus. You have escaped from your chrysalis at last, free from the bondage of cancer, and are flying beautifully with our Savior.



I love you, sweet, sweet friend.



Sarah left footprints in the sands of this earth that no shore could wash away.

Her light is a light that will never go out.

Her laughter is a musical no one else can sing.


I miss you.


HK