Testing My New Camera

I got a new camera for my birthday last month from some very generous and thoughful parishioners. They had heard how my old camera had a scratched lens and that the flash no longer worked. Well, they got me an upgrade! It's still a Canon and of the "sureshot variety" (that means there's no thinking to taking pictures). However, the lens can zoom in over twice as much as the old camera! It was kind of them to think of me.

At the same time, I've been a bit hesitant about using it. I'm afraid I might break it! Anyway, after about a couple of weeks sitting on my shelf, I told myself to get over that! I just took it out of the box and started to shoot with it. Here are some of my tests!

The first couple are shots from my bedroom window (1,2). These plants grow in the garden beyond. I was shooting through the screen on my windows with surprising results! Notice the atmospheric effect in the first photo. And in the second, you can actually see the squares of the mesh affecting the image of the yellow roses!

Later in the week, my friends invited me to go for a walk along the bay. It was a great day, with warm sun and cool breezes. I arrived early and was scoping out the locations when this corner house caught my eye (3). The patios face out to the bay (4). It must make for gorgeous sunrises! What I really noticed were the flowers that lined the walks. Look at how these exotic blooms spiral from a center point (5-7). And the intensity of this pink frangipani is incredible (8). And those flowers matched almost perfectly the other blooms in the yard. The rest of the walk offered similar scenes to other photos I've taken of a parrot (9) and a still life with a shell (10).

I love the sky here in Australia. The clouds in particular are big and beautiful, sprawling across a wide canvas. I captured these shots on three different days. This bright cloud's intensity caught my eye (11). Look at the odd cloud formations here (12). And how the clouds all sort of sat on the horizon, reflecting the peachy colors of the sunset (13). And these were big clouds that eventually brought needed rain (14). But look at the variety of the cloud formations, from those big puffy ones on the left in the panoramic to long stringy ones that stretch across like pulled cotton candy (15).

A tree in our school began to bud strange seed pods all over. They are such a pretty mix of delicate pinks and pale greens (16). Really remarkable. Finally, Fr. Gerard and myself tried to look cool and contained ourselves while posing in the life-sized display announcing a new Star Wars movie, Solo, at the theatre (17)! (Ok, I was the only one trying to contain myself; good natured Fr. Gerard just humored me!)