New Toy

Since we've been back from Indonesia, I've had a renewed interest in photography.  I learned a lot on our trip and have really been taking a lot of pictures recently.  We have a Canon Digital Rebel XT, that we've had for the last several years, but I'm finally starting to learn how to use it, more than just in automatic mode.  Jeff got me a telephoto lens 70-200 mm for Christmas in 2008, which I use quite a bit, but lately, as I see some of the beautiful pictures on some blogs, and read more about the lenses they use, I decided on a new toy, a 50mm F1.8 canon lens.  So I've been playing with it lately, and I still don't quite have it figured out, but, I'm getting there, hopefully I'll have better project pictures.

The above pics were taken with the telephoto, of the barn at my grandma's house.  The last big snowstorm we got in February was just too much for the roof and it collapse.  These were taken a few weeks ago.  When I went out today, it has been torn down the rest of the way and the clean up has begun.  It looks so different out there, a whole building is gone.  It's a little sad, I remember playing in that barn when I was little, and there were always barn cats, up to about 30 at one time!  And our horse, Blue, was there for a while too.  I know my grandma was a little sad, change can be hard, but it will look so much better out there when it is all cleaned up.

These up-close pics are taken with my new toy, I love the short depth of field.  It's exactly the effect that I wanted.  So, I'm excited to learn me about it!

And these animal pictures are just for fun!  The cats are my grandma's kitties, the tabby is  Belle and the tortie is Missy.  Belle was all mellow and high on catnip at the moment!  And I really like this shot of Murphy for some reason!