It's not a Nikon....

.....but it is an SLR! Let me start by saying, has it really been almost six months since my last entry? That's terrible. Long story short, I got laid off from my last job, got a better job, have had a chance to make some new friends (like, real friends, not just people to go watch a movie with...), ended up with a German Shepherd puppy, and recently gotten into photography. I can actually afford to do that now. I did end up moving since my last bike post.....I have the bike still, but the town is much bigger and hilly. Suffice to say, during winter photography is much easier. If you want to see some of my pictures, go to flickr and look for thayne2k. Anyhoo...... the camera is a Minolta Maxxum 5, and it takes pretty good pictures for only having a Quantaray (i.e., Ritz store brand) lens. I'm also about to purchase a Pentacon Six medium format camera, so hopefully I know what I'm doing by the time that gets here. (It's coming from a private seller in Hungary.) OH!!! and I almost forgot about Lost! It's back on again if you hadn't heard. I actually haven't had a chance to watch tonight's episode which I have recorded; I was watching some season one with a friend who is just now starting to watch it. (She has a lotttt of catching up to do.) What else.....hm. My betta is still alive and kicking. Or ....finning? Had I mentioned my betta? In any case it's late and i'm tired, but now I have introduced some newer topics for posting in the very near future.

maybe it's genetic?

It's possible. My grandpa was a sign painter for years doing commercial work for Pacific Power before semi-retiring to do custom sandblasted signs from his garage. Sometime in the 70's, he dabbled in oil paintings (which are pretty damn good), then moved onto photography. He went full on after retirement; he could work as much or little as he wanted and use the rest of the time honing his skills. (Of course from start to finish, his favorite subjects have been his grandkids....with 17, plus 6 or so great grandkids, we need to start scanning and archiving his albums.) He eventually moved to Idaho, designed his own custom house complete with darkroom, and gained some local notoriety for his rodeo, wildlife, and outdoor photography which reflected the McCall, ID area. He opened and ran a gallery with my grandma from 2000 until just last year when he finally REALLY retired. He retrofitted a room in a new house for a dark room, and uses another for a studio where he's again getting back into painting.

Two Christmases ago i received a Sony Cybershot 6 MP point and shoot. I used it mainly at social events and concerts. It got stolen last Halloween from my own house during a giant house party. With limited zoom and simple dial controls for general outdoor/portrait type settings, this is about the best stuff I could get. (Not exactly gallery material....) As long as it was good to the naked eye, it turned out ok. Lately though I've thought about replacing the old Cybershot with a digital SLR; Nikon is the option I want to consider. Yes I've heard Canon are better. No I don't care. What little SLR experience I have with a 'real' camera has been using my grandpa's Nikons, so that's that. I've heard good things about the D40.....they're really pushing the D60 right now, but from what reading I've done it sounds like the D60 is actually lacking in some areas, and otherwise isn't worth the extra expense for someone like me who's looking for a first SLR. If I get one I'll let you know how it goes......hopefully the skills run in the family.