PICTURE POST II!

[Tom Hendricks]

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

 

[Kira's Mom]

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

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Our annual December trip to the Bronx Zoo:

 

[cooleddie74]

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!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

"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."

 

[Greylock Crescent]

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!

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.

 

[auntiehill]

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

 

[cooleddie74]

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.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

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…..

 

[Greylock Crescent]

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.

 

[cooleddie74]

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

 

[TheSeeker]

Awesome photos Mariner. I am having serious lens and camera envy right now! I started off with Canon's Rebel XT and moved to the T3i about two years ago. Unfortunately I am mostly using the kit lens that came with it though.

I took this one with my iPhone while out for a walk with my family in Central Park the day after Christmas .

I took this one on Christmas Day. My daughter got a cape for Christmas and was striking a pose on top of some beer cased I hadn't put away yet.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Awesome photos Mariner. I am having serious lens and camera envy right now! I started off with Canon's Rebel XT and moved to the T3i about two years ago. Unfortunately I am mostly using the kit lens that came with it though.

I took this one with my iPhone while out for a walk with my family in Central Park the day after Christmas .

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.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Some pictures of Ian for his 5th birthday.

 

[Sakrysta]

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.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

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

 

[cooleddie74]

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.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

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.

 

[think]

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.

back to the images?

 

[TheSeeker]

Very sorry to hear of your loss Sakrysta.


On Christmas Eve we were heading back home on the subway where we encountered a man playing the trumpet. My daughter loves giving money to street performers so my Father gave her some change. She walked up to give him the money but before she could he took her hand and prevented her from putting the change in his trumpet case until he could play Jingle Bells just for her. When he finished he let go of her hand and allowed her to put the change in. My sister managed to capture the moment.

Needless to say I gave the guy a few more bucks!