It’s a little bit ironic that now that I have a more comfortable versatile carrying strap for my Nikon, I’ve fallen in love with taking pictures with my easily-pocketable and much less bulky iPhone — no carrying strap required!
My parents got me the Black Rapid camera strap I’d requested for Christmas. It took me quite a bit of waffling to get used to the idea of carrying my camera suspended upside down by the tripod screw, and a few weeks to convince myself that it was safe dangling over my hip like that, but now that I have used it for a while, I love love love it! The accessory strap that comes with the D7000 was good, but the Black Rapid strap is longer, and makes for an easy cross-body carry without pinching the, um, girls, if you know what I mean. Not to mention the fact that when you’re a busty girl, most cross-body straps are a little less than flattering. I like to carry the camera resting just to the side of the small of my back, and the Black Rapid strap is fully adjustable. The only annoying bit is that when I’m walking at a good clip, I tend to somehow trigger the video feature on the camera, so I’ve come back from photo safari walks with photos interspersed with short bouncy video clips of my feet and people walking past on the sidewalk — all upside-down.
Ahem, all that to say, while they each have a place in my heart, I have been enjoying the convenience of mobile photography this week. While it’s not unheard of for me to take the DSLR with me to the grocery store, I didn’t have it with me last Saturday. I hadn’t realized when I left the house how sparkly and gorgeous the world would be when the sun shone on the ice coating all the branches from the storm the day before. I like this photo, but I love the quote I found to go with it: “Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand-and melting like a snowflake…” ~ Sir Francis Bacon
These were surreptitiously snapped in the Bulk Barn while I was shopping for candy Lego pieces for Simon’s birthday party. I put them together with a fun app called Diptic.
This week was Simon’s birthday, and we invited the Lego Guy back for another successful Lego party. He is really amazing — I think this party was even better than the one he did for Tristan’s birthday two years ago. Ian is a natural teacher and strikes a perfect balance between instruction and play. Simon happily declared this the “best birthday party ever” while I learned that you can host a party or photograph a party — but it’s a challenge to do both!
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a perfect week. Lucas has been very sick since Wednesday — in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him quite so sick. He’s had a fever that tops out around 102F and just won’t stay away, and a terrible juicy cough. I finally brought him in yesterday to see the pediatrician, and he’s got enough of a crackle in his chest that we ended up with antibiotics in case it’s pneumonia again (he had it not all that long ago.) It’s just not right seeing my energetic boy taken out like this.
And if you live in Ottawa, you know that this weekend is the official launch of Winterlude. I took a lunchtime walk on the Rideau Canal skateway (world’s largest, if not longest!) and got some fun shots with both the Nikon and the iPhone that Getty Images snapped up.
And last but not least, no piece of photographic gear is truly considered broken in until I can take it for a test drive with my favourite local attraction, Watson’s Mill in Manotick.
I’d say it passes the test, eh?
I think next year we will be ready for our first Lego party….I can’t wait! Love all the shots, especially ‘silhouette’