There is a delight when you get new toys. You want to play with them all the time. Do we ever grow out of that? I really think not.
I recently upgraded my camera and added a longer telephoto lens. I now have a Nikon D800 and a Nikon 200-500 lens. What a change. Before this, my longest lens (of any quality) was my Nikon 18-300mm which is a surprisingly good lens. I was mainly using a Nikon D3300 and sometimes my old Nikon D60. The upgrade was significant.
Naturally, I was out with it just as soon as I could be. However, it has also been a very busy time for me with work and I had to really move some things aside in order to "play". Actually, I took time I should not have taken but . . . Then, I had a bout of food poisoning. Seems like things have been stacked against me.
Well, what little time I did have produced some worthwhile photos and has me very excited about getting out and taking more pictures. Let me share a few here.
Isn't this going to be fun?
Fellow photographer and naturalist, Kristi Thomas, and some friends are going out on the boat tomorrow on a photo expedition. One of the places we are going is to check out is the eagle's nest we have been watching since October. Watch for more photos soon.
Now, after all that I want to add one more bit of opinion. Better equipment definitely helps one take better photographs, but just because you have good equipment, doesn't mean you can automatically take good photos. It is much more complicated than that. You can take good pictures with your phone if you use the right techniques. There is much more to being a photographer and taking pictures than just having a good camera. I am thrilled that I got the new equipment and am so pleased with the capabilities of it; I am also thankful for many, many years of experience that help me use the equipment in such a way as to improve my photos; and, just as importantly, I am thankful for the time and curiousity that helps me learn more about photography and the equipment so I can get reach the level of photographic skills that I desire to reach. I like the photos that I take and am proud of some of them, but I also know I can do so much better. Just have to keep working and learning.
Michael is a former biologist and Texas Master Naturalist. Originally from Newsome, Texas (Between Pittsburg and Winnsboro), educated in Dallas & Garland schools, then off to the University of Texas system where he received a degree in biology and worked as a biologist with the University of Texas system. After many years away from nature and biology, he relocated to the banks of Lake O' the Pines where he has been rediscovering the joys of nature. He is somewhat surprised that he has become a birder. Most of his interest in nature was centered around reptiles. Perhaps just like birds evolved from reptiles starting in the late Jurassic, he has begun his own evolution. During his formal education, his interests in biology/nature grew to include community ecology and population studies, all with a binding of evolutionary processes. He liked birds, but they were secondary at best. All at once he finds them fascinating.
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