New Toy

Last year I rented a Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 to shoot a wedding. The image quality from a professional lens was phenomenal, but by the end of the day I was sick of carrying the heavy thing around. I have been eyeing its predecessor (35-70mm f/2.8) for a while. Not only is it a lot lighter but a lot cheaper too. It has been discontinued for some time so the other day I was browsing around eBay and came across a used one that I liked. I shot an email of to my wife with the subject "I want one" and "pretty, pretty please" in the body. I got a response to "use my best judgment." A couple days later a package arrived. Here are a few shots I took playing around in the yard. So far, I am very happy with it.

The primary reason I bought this lens is for portraits. Needless to say this shot made me really excited to get out and shoot a portrait session for someone. 

I need to give credit to my wife for this one shot along the living room sofa. 

The macro feature on this lens is a lot of fun. Up to this point I have used macro filters which screw onto the lens. Not only are they a pain to use, but they are not very sharp.  My kids were terrified this baby praying mantis was going to pinch me as it crawled up my leg. 

For some reason I had never thought of insects as being aware of their surroundings, but the pupils on this praying mantis tell a different story. I shot about dozen pictures of it and in every single one the pupil is looking right at the camera (click on the image to view the full-size). Needless to say I am very happy with the clarity that this new lens brings. 

Feet

I wish I could take credit for the first one, but my wife gets to claim this awesome photo.

But the second one was mine. I guess we both had an itch to take podiatric photos recently.

Millcreek Canyon

Last Saturday evening we had dinner at The Dodo then drove up Millcreek Canyon. It was great to escape this heat we have had. Here are a couple shots I captured.