Toronto Photo Walks: Riverdale Farm--Toronto Necropolis IV

Well, as I said before it was wet. I used the opportunity to get a little creative with some "zooming" shots. Eventually we gave up and headed to the pub down on Queen St. When we got to the one we were planning on going to it was closed so we had to trek over the Don River to find one that was open. If you are in the Queen and Broadview area, I recommend Prohibition. Nice atmosphere, and great food. Beer, it's always good.













Point of information. My coat gained five pounds over the walk and took three days to completely dry.

SQUIRREL!...The Return.

I still have been taking pictures of squirrels, or tree rats as some people call them. Had the opportunity to use a good zoom lens on some so I was able to get real close to them. Others were still at a distance. I will say this much, getting pictures of squirrels is good practice for stalking sometimes.




I mean you can get really close with a good zoom lens...




Paladin Phil

For the Birds

I had use of a good tele-photo lens for the past couple of weeks. The last two weeks I got a lot of good use out of it on nice distant shots. Or close up shots of animals that are hard to sneak up on. For example birds. Spring is really here and a lot of them are out and about. So I have been keeping my eyes open, and practiced my staking skills. I lucked out and got some good pictures of different types of birds. Of course some of them are typical all over, but that doesn't mean they aren't fun to photograph. So here we go.





I will be going through a lot of pictures and may backtrack a bit this week in seasons. I haven't uploaded all my walks yet to Flickr. See you all tomorrow, and lace up those walking shoes.

2009: The New Camera...

Okay, I am stepping forward to the present for a post, maybe more, to bubble with enthusiasm. I finally got a new camera. Well, new to me at least. It's a gently used Nikon D200. As far as I am aware I am the third person to own this camera. I have been pricing and thinking about a new camera for almost a year now. Ever since some people talked to me about photography and stuff. Of course even good used cameras aren't cheap. Well my friend knew I was in the market and asked if I wanted to buy his. He was upgrading to a better model and by selling me his old camera it helps to defray the costs. So I have been waiting for him to get his new camera so I could get my grubby mitts on his.

He was generous and allowed me to play with the D200 from time to time. Mostly to teach me what to do and how it handles. A week ago I got to use it and shot some, I think, decent shots.



Well, I got the news and on this past Sunday I was handed a camera. Now, I have been learning how my old camera worked and most of my pictures were turning out decently overall. All of a sudden I was thrown to the wolves and making a whole bunch of new and old mistakes. Like the evil of over exposure.



Well, I was shown how to adjust that and learned about the handy dandy light meter. (I even found out it shows up in the view finder).

And I started to take some more decent pictures. I was also given a lens with the camera. OMG!!!!ELEVENTY!1!!1 No more digital zoom, I was doing optical baby. Of course I had to test it out.



Now, I had gotten the overexposure problem mostly solved. Then I learned about under exposure. Yep, more bad pictures. Once again I thank the digital age for saving me massive film costs as I am learning.



Slowly I got the hang of it. And still I am getting the hang of it. There are so many buttons and meters, and settings, and, and... I think it's going to take awhile for me to figure everything out. I have been getting better at it though. I will be needing some more lenses soon. Even though I have only one lens, I am not letting it restrict me.

Even after the sunset.


Keep walking, and I think it's time to get a back support too.

PaladinPhil