I'm not in the market for a point-and-shoot camera this year, but if I had $10 for every time somoene asked me which one to buy...well, I could have bought a few of them by now.
The truth is, I don't really know much about them, except that they're small, because I carry a big-ol-beast Canon 40D with me most of the time, and only use my Sony Cybershot in a pinch or for video. Now if you're in the market for a DSLR...then we can talk.
But...for all my friends & family who will inevitably ask me this holiday season for camera purchasing advice, here's a link I saw today with a list of the 20 most popular point-and-shoot cameras:
Looks like my previous advice has been pretty sound -- Canons rock.
And while we're at it...the best places I know of to buy cameras are BestBuy.com and BHphotovideo.com. Your local Wolf Camera store would also be a great place for information and personal service...although unfortunately, not usually as good of a price.
I got my new Canon 40D today and got to play a little bit. Holy megapixels! And I didn't even get the newest, biggest, fastest camera on the market right now.
This photo originally was 54 x 36 INCHES!
That's massive. Want to see just HOW massive? Here's a cropped section of it at original size.
Lisa tagged me in a random photo blog game, and the picture that resulted was interesting, so I decided to do it.
Here's how it works: Pick the 6th folder in your pictures files on your computer and then choose the 6th photo in the folder and blog about it.
Unfortunately there were only three photos in my 6th folder, so I went with the 6th picture in the 7th folder...because does it REALLY matter?
Here's what I came up with:
Grave Digger....the monster truck.
Hilarious, I know. I didn't even take the photo. Back in January, Ben took Zach and my nephews to a monster truck show, and Grave Digger is the feature event of the loud testosterone-filled program. So I credit Ben with this fabulous documentation of their encounter with the monster...
So friends, if you're so inclined....I tag Janel, Alison, Patricia, Betsy, Elizabeth, and Renee. Let's see what you got!
I ran across this Camera Strap Slipcover Tutorial last week, and was excited to give it a try. Even though I am VERY challenged in any sewing-machine related crafts, I decided this looked simple enough for even me to try.
I did a "rough draft" try with some scrap fabric and my own sewing machine. It didn't fit and looked awful. But...I also didn't measure or iron the fabric, so what did I expect?
Then today, I snagged some scrap fabric from my sister-in-law (who has a treasure chest of fabrics to choose from) and borrowed her snazzy sewing machine and expertise while I tried to make a "final draft" version to actually use.
Well...make that 2nd draft. I had to tear out all the seams after I realized that I didn't put the fabrics' "right sides" together like you're supposed to. But that was a good extra round of practice for me, because once I finally got it all sewn together right, it slipped onto my camera strap and looks pretty good.
I did omit the last step of top-stitching around the whole thing because it didn't look like I'd have enough space left to slide the strap inside with two more seams. But I'm happy with the end result anyhow.
It only took me 2 hours (said with a roll of the eyes, because this should really be a 30 minute project MAX). But I didn't cry, and I didn't throw away the end-product, so I guess that makes it a successful project in my book!
Ahead of schedule (I had wanted to finish by this weekend), I've got my Week in the Life album completed. I kept it SUPER simple so that the photos and journaling would take center stage.
I used a 12 x 12 chipboard spiral album from Rusty Pickle that has been sitting on my shelf FOREVER. I cut it down to 10" x 12" so that I could make a horizontal-oriented album. Then I cut a rectangle in the center of the front piece of chipboard so that I could decorate the front cover by letting the title page embellishments peek through the window. I painted the edges of the chipboard and covered each side with cardstock, adding photo corners to the front cover window as embellishments. I also added ribbon to the spiral binding.
Inside cover & title page:
Monday:
Detail of journaling pages:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
Putting the album together was easier than doing all the leg-work for the photos and journaling! But worth it. :)
Next week I'm going to have to think of actual things to write about...because I'm giving my camera at least a full 24 hour break, if not longer! It's been overworked this week during my Week in the Life project.
I am glad I did the project, and I think a few years from now, I'll really enjoy going back and reading the journaling and seeing the photo collages and seeing what a regular week was like for us in 2008. Right now, it looks a lot like a regular old boring week. But this week only happens once, so I'm glad I managed to capture it in all its reality...
So, finally, here's what Sunday, October 19th, 2008 looked like for us (sorry for all the really dark photos or overly bright photos...I told you my camera has been overworked!):
I'll share pics of the album when I complete it...hopefully by next weekend.
I've made it to the weekend in my Week in the Life project! That means only one day left...Sunday. I'm not sure how I'm going to photograph church tomorrow morning, although to be completely honest, I don't think anyone would think it was weird at all if I did. I'll have to think on that.
But meanwhile, here's what Saturday, October 18th, 2008 looked like at our house:
(And just so you know, Ben actually spent the majority of the day working hard on a web project. The pics of him shown here are during a few short breaks where he emerged! Didn't want you to think he was a slacker...although if he was who could blame him on a Saturday?)
Seeing the end in sight has made me excited about putting together the album, so tonight I got a headstart and began printing my photo collages and journaling and decided on an album to use. Now I just have to figure out a design plan and I can get this finished by the end of next week. It's going to be pretty basic, letting the photos and journaling be the main focus.
My "Week in the Life" is starting to feel like a month. Taking photos of everything you do is exhausting. That must be why I slept in today and didn't get dressed until 10:30am! Too tired from all this photo-recording. Ramona mentioned that a friend of hers suggested doing this project every year during the same week. I admit, that would be cool to see the changes, but I think every 5 years is good enough for me! We'll see if I remember in October 2013. Someone want to remind me of that?
Around dinner time tonight, I fizzled out, but I tried to come back with at least two pics from after Ayla's bedtime (which is when I usually fizzle out of my photo-taking frenzy).
So here's what Friday, October 17th looked like at our house:
