New Wide Angle Lens

On Tuesday night, Simone surprised me with an early Birthday present - a new wide angle lens for my SLR. She managed to do all the research herself, which impressed me, and the result was a Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 USM lens.

 I took it out for a session in Canberra immediately, from dusk to complete darkness and managed to snap (what I thought) are a few decent shots. Am looking forward to getting out over the next few weeks and snapping a few other Canberra landmarks (there are plenty of them!).

Photo Challenge 2 - Portrait

The second month of a photo challenge I am doing with a friend had a theme of 'portrait'. This was not my choice, which is probably revealed by my lack of 'variety' in what I think are my best shots (all 2 of them). In true 'don't leave the house fashion' they are all of our cat.

I personally like the top one the best. What do you think? (click the pics to enlarge).

The next theme is 'movement' which I already have some good ideas for. Looking forward to trying a few new things out and about.

Photo Challenge - Tranquil

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine suggested that we undertake a photo challenge, to get us out and about and searching for good shots instead of simply waiting for good moments to come to us. Essentially, we gave ourselves three weeks, picked a theme, and then agreed to meet and and compare our best shots that conformed to the theme.

Being a big fan of landscape photography (it is my comfort zone), I sneakily suggested "tranquil" as the first theme, and luckily it stuck. One of the benefits of such a theme for me is that every morning, I ride to work around Lake Burleigh Griffith (a large shallow, algae infested lake in the heart of Canberra). A cup of the water may kill you, but on cold winter mornings (down to -6 lately), it provided some great shooting options.

The best of my shots (in my opinion) is below. Amazingly, it was only taken on a cheap point and snap camera because it is all I had on me at the time. It was an amazing morning though, and the camera managed to truly capture the great colours of the sun rising. As they say, the best camera in the world, is the one you have with you when a good photographic moment arises. It really all does come down to composition!

I have included a few of my other entries into the "competition" below for you. My favorite would probably be the middle one of the sun breaking through the trees, particularly because of the dramatic shadows cast by the trees. The theme for the next challenge has been set as "Portrait". Portraiture is not my strong point, so it should prove interesting. Any tips?