Happy Halloween and such! I’m honestly not a huge fan of the holiday as I was only after the candy when I was a kid. Now that the candy sends me into a sugar coma faster than you can “Charleston Chew” (best candybar evar), there really isn’t much there for me. Still, I do like finding a clever costume..which is rare.

This weekend I threw together a “Rugby Player” costume: knee socks with shin guards, long sleeve striped polo shirt, short and tennis shoes - I looked like an idiot but I didn’t really care too much.

The years of Jake and Elwood Blues were the best. My good friend and I got a lot of “The Blues Brothers!” when we made our rounds downtown to the bars. Those were the days…

In other news, added a few shots to flickr using my new lens - woo.

At the risk of rambling…I’ll end this blog post….now.

Well, after many weeks of thinking…and thinking…and, yes, more thinking, I snagged a 24-70 f/2.8 L. This lens is no lightweight. L-quality adds a good amount of weight along with the constant f/2.8. My 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM has a filter size of 58mm. The 24-70mm? 77mm! I am looking really forward to getting some use out of this lens this weekend. I’m not looking forward to the sore neck after hauling around this 2lb bohemoth :).

All in all, I’m thrilled with my purchase. It was a long mental debate, but in the end I came away with a fantastic everyday lens. Next up: Wide Angle, and Telephoto Zoom. Down the road: 100mm Macro (not for awhile)

My first L

I remember when I would order something out of the Lego Catalog with my mom’s help and basically go moderately insane waiting for the package to arrive. Back then there was no “package tracking.” If there was, I’d be refreshing the website as much then as I do now. It’s sad really…

When I order an item that I’m pretty excited about, I feel like refreshing the FedEx or UPS website will make the package come quicker. And god forbid the page isn’t updated quickly and the status lingers at “Left FedEx Location” like it did yesterday. The less page updates, the more I refresh - again, sad.

I half wish there wasn’t a way to tell when the package was being delivered and where it was and all that. I mean, it is very handy, but it just enables me to be an amateur psychopath until the parcel arrives. When I built my first PC back in 2001, I sat in my cubicle at my first co-op F5′ing the hell out of UPS’s site (or FedEx, can’t recall).

Anyway, the lens is almost here.  It is roaming around Rochester right now on a FedEx truck.  There may or may not be someone at home, so we’ll see.  I may have to wait until tomorrow to pick it up.  No big deal really.

I’ve been using my new flash a lot in the past week.  I am going to put an order in for some rechargable NiMH batteries as I’m fairly certain the CVS Brand AA’s I bought will be zapped pretty quickly.  I also want them for when I shoot along side a professional photographer at a wedding.

Like Alex loves his marathons (again, congrats on the Chicago Marathon man - very inspiring), I’m finding I’m loving photography a lot more lately.  Loving = Obsessing, to a certain degree.  It is very relaxing to shoot, even if the shot comes out like crap.  Having gear that allows me to experiment more and take my photography farther is great too (Flash for indoor photography, for example).

I’ve visited a particular camera shop a handful of times and I hardly ever buy anything there.  I go in look, ask questions, get lame answers and leave - knowing the item I looked at is much cheaper at a trusted online vendor.  I basically use that store as a “let me see it in person” sort of store.  I will NEVER go there for A/V equipment as my taste in Hi-Fi audio equipment are beyond the brands they carry.  That, and they operate on commission - “Ask for if you come back” - annoying.

So, I went to the camera shop, knowing I wouldn’t buy a lens, but wanting to see it in person.  I tried to lenses on a 400D (wasn’t a fan of the 400D’s “improved” screen/features) and popped in my CF card so I could take the pictures home.  Well, the gentleman handed me the lenses and really didn’t say much.  This was okay as I was just snapping shots anyway.  I asked him a quick “A versus B” question and he gave a slight reply - but I was more asking to cut the silence.  To make it sound like I wasn’t just going in to look at gear and not buy…which I was…I asked if they did any price matching.

“Local only.  Online’s a whole different ballgame,” He replied.  Of course it is.  Online is cheaper.  They don’t have a store to run.

Anyway, point is, I wonder if I’m some how blacklisted there.  Are there more like me?  More that go to stores to see the item they want but sort of refuse to pay the retail price?  I save a ton by not buying local.  No offense to them direcltly, but anyway I can save money on an expensive purchase, I’ll take it.

After leaving the store, I took a look at the shots I took with the lenses.  I then proceeded to pick my jaw up off the floor.  I haven’t witnessed sharpness from a lens like that before.  Very, very impressive.  It was time to stop deliberating and pull the trigger.  At 7:30am EST, I purchased a lens.  Which one?  Ah, stay tuned devoted readers (3 of you? 4?..eh).  It should ship today, get to my door by Wednesday.  Free shipping, no tax, mail-in rebate, cheaper than retail - I love the interweb.  Thanks Al Gore!

So my second Speedlite 580EX came today and I promise I’ll keep this one :).  If you recall, I returned the original one only rebuy it during the now famous “Canon Rebate Season.”  Well, now I’m all grown up and I have an external flash of my own like the cool kids.  Unfortunately I have yet to buy some NiMH batteries so…looks like I’m going to be burning through some alkalines in the meantime.  Sorry planet Earth.

In other camera related news,  The Rochester Flickr Group met last night at Bodhi’s last night.  It was really great to meet some more photographers around here.  Very cool people.  I hope to have some images up on my photostream soon.  We talked of possibly setting up a monthly or bi-monthly meeting and discussing possible shots or photo shoots to try around the city.  If it translates to more practice and shooting, I’m in.  I can’t help but feel moderately addicted to photography now…expensive yet rewarding addiction