Living Vicariously

Like many young girls, I wanted so very much to be a dancer/performer. I took ballet with thoughts of being a Prima Ballerina some day and tap with hopes of taking Jazz and Modern Dance and loved every second of it. Out of the blue, I became seriously ill at the age of 10. Unfortunately, that was the end of my dancing dreams; doctor's orders. What a kill joy hey?

Well the good news is, we have an outlet for living vicariously through others in the form of theatre, broadway, etc. but most commonly through Broadcast Media. Mind you, its not the same as the real thing, but I for one, get so embroiled in the competition, it's untrue. You get to share all the excitement, anticipation, tears, joy, hopes and fears of the contestants.

Last night my husband Steve and I watched the Final of "Strictly Dance Fever". Darrien and Hollie won, and deservedly so! They were brilliant, but so were Darren and Lana who were my personal favourites, but someone had to win! I felt a mother's pride for them. It's easy to become emotionally involved in competions like this one.

Those who can't, view!

That's my quote and no one better steal it! My dad was a good one for living vicariously, bless him. He had a serious heart condition so was limited to how much activity he could indulge in. So every night, he'd don his jogging suit and mock jog in his arm chair with the crack that "There, that's my exercise for the day done!" It was his sense of humour that made it all bearable for him.

Back to the point about living vicariously though, aren't we lucky that we can cheer on the people who are "Capturing a Dream!" I know I am.

Tags: capturing a dream, Strictly Dance Fever, living vicariously

In Search of My 1st SLR Digital!

I've been a busy girl since my last post. Not only have I been learning about my present camera, the Nikon Cool Pix, and taken lots of photos, but I've also been in search of my next camera. It's not been the easiest process as I wanted to be absolutely sure I had the one that had all the features and capabilites within my given price range. DP Review was a huge help with this project as it allows you to actually place your requirements and then it automatically brings up the cameras with your given specifications. Then, just to be ultra sure, I picked up Which Camera and a few other magazines for their evaluations as well.

And the winner is the Cannon EOS 350D! I chose it one day and then my precious husband Steve suprised me and ordered it the very next day! Within 2 days there was a knock at my door. There it was, in the hands of a very cheeky deliveryman who teased me about my last name Newson pronouncing it nuisance! Moi? Never! Just because he delivers things here on a quite regular basis, surely does not constitute me being a nuisance?! We had a laugh and then I said, "be careful, your holding my new camera", gleefully like a little kid on Christmas morning! The first thing I did was to ring my husband and he had to sit through my opening every box with me bubbling over like a school girl!

All that I can say folks, is I love this camera! For an entry level SLR it takes incredible pictures. It has an automatic mode for those that just can't wait to read directions (that would be me) but it does so much more! Steve also purchased the "Canon EOS Digital Rebel Digital Field Guide" by Charlotte K Lowrie, which has been a great help guiding me through the intricate features of my very first SLR ever! Can you tell I'm excited!

Just for the record, I have the best husband on earth, who also happens to be my very best friend! Thank you sweetheart! Thank you for believing in me and being my hero! I love you big time!

Tags: Canon, Canon EOS 350D, DP Review, Steve Newson

On An Adventure

When my kids were little, I used to take them on long rides to various places. On occasion I would find myself in unchartered territory (or lost). At those times, I would simply say to them ......"we are on an adventure!" which would excite them. Adventures still excite me today.

Now that they are grown-ups, I have time for my own "adventures", and that's what I'll be writing about in this blog.

When I was about 7 years old, mom and dad bought me my first camera. At that time it was all black and white film and they spent a small fortune keeping up with my delight at snapping pictures of everything and anything. Most of the photo's were rubbish but they loved me and encouraged my creativity, even if the shot was of a leaf or fence post!

I've had various cameras throughout my life, including a manual 35 mm and have always enjoyed the fun of photography, but never fully understanding all that was involved. I even had a go at black and white darkroom development, which was amazing! I learned to restore some of my grandparents very old and tattered photo's and brought them back in sepia, much to their delight.

A few years back my husband bought me a Nikon Coolpix 885, which I never really mastered, until now, as most of the time I had the camera set to auto and preset controls. I thought I'd better get a handle on it as he's just suprised me and said I could upgrade to an SLR; and so the adventure begins! I've made the conscious decision to know everything there is to know about my current camera before getting a new one.

There is a great little website called Lynda.com. that's chock full of valuable information about photography and Photoshop and all things digital. I've just completed a teaching video called "Introduction to Digital Photography" by Taz Tally. He has his own website called Taz Tally's Seminars and is the author of several books.

The presentation was concise, clear and easy to understand, taking the mystery out of many things that as a novice photographer I wasn't clear on. One of the things he talked about was what to look for in my next camera and even where to go to compare cameras - Digital Photography Review. This will be of great help, after my head stops spinning, to finding my next camera.

I suspect that there are tons of people out there that have taken this journey before, so please feel free if you have any suggestions or recommendations for great cameras or better yet, cameras to stay clear of.

Tags: Photography, Taz Tally, lynda.com, Digital Photography Review