PICTURE POST II!

A few pictures from Christmas


Ian & Aaron making funny faces in front of the tree


Kira looking christmassy in her candy cane outfit


Ian's favorite gift, his own telescope


Aaron's favorite gift, his own iPad mini

 

My cat hates Christmas. He hides from anyone who comes over.

 

Our annual December trip to the Bronx Zoo:

 

Those are some of the crispest, clearest and most detailed zoo photos I've seen in a long time. Very nice and majestic-looking. Thanks for sharing them!

 

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! We're not a tiger! ... We're inmates of a Bengali psychiatric institution, and we escaped by making this skin out of old, used cereal packets."

 

Thanks! The Bronx Zoo actually has a glass partition between the exhibits ... and the tigers. I have to give my camera and lens the credit for image clarity.

 

^Well, that's a great camera then, because those pictures are AWESOME.

 

I have three different digital cameras (two of which are in my old as well as newer smartphone) and none seem to take images that good much of the time.

 

All of yours are great, Mariner, but this is my favorite.

There've been some other fabulous photos lately, but I had so many to catch up on, and I forgot to multi-quote, so…..

 

Thanks, again. The camera is a Canon 70D and the lens is a 70-300mm Canon lens. For years I had been using Canon's entry-level DSLR, the Rebel T2i. But the new camera was a birthday/Christmas gift. I'm still learning how to get the most out of it, but it's been impressive.

 

They're like something out of the pages of a National Geographic.

 

That's absolutely brilliant. I can see that as a book cover or the background to a movie one-sheet. Possibly some mystery-thriller with Morgan Freeman or something.

The benefit of my camera and lens upgrade is the speed and accuracy of the autofocus. With my T2i and the 55-250mm, it would take seconds to focus, and often shift not directly onto the exact spot I wanted (despite the fact that I use back-button, single-point focusing). The 70D uses the same focusing system as the 7D, and the USM lens is quick. So I ended up with a lot of very sharp images this time 'round.

Personally, though, I need to work on framing the images better (like the one of yours I quoted). The one with your daughter in front of chalkboard, with the cat to one side in front of the window, has a Norman Rockwell quality to it.

 

Some pictures of Ian for his 5th birthday.

 

My dear friend who died suddenly Friday morning. She was only 66. She was so much fun, loved God with all her heart, was like a teenage girl when it came to K-pop and Korean dramas, devoured books, was an Army wife whose husband served in Vietnam and Desert Storm, raised three boys, and loved me like a sister/daughter/niece/best friend.

This picture is from a vacation we took to Florida together 5 years ago. We stopped to get ice cream treats pretty much every day, and she would always make such a mess eating hers. I told her I had to take this picture so I would remember how funny and messy she was, even though she isn't very messy here. She didn't care - for her, it was part of the fun of having the treat that it ended up messy.

 

I am sorry to hear about your friend Sakystra, she sounds like an awesome funny interesting person.

 

So sorry for your loss. Losing a loved one whether they're a blood relative or not can be a very difficult thing, and all our best wishes at this time.

 

My heartfelt condolences Sakrysta. The photo of your friend, though, is filled with such a vibrant zest for life, though, that it's heartwarming ... hopefully it can be an inspiration.

 

sorry to hear of your loss Sakrysta, Things like this sorta kills a thread but your friend looks like someone I met awhile back..yet probably a different person.

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