Aperture and Shutter Speed and Flashes, Oh My!

Last fall, I tried to take this great Intro to Digital Photography class because

a) I LOVE photography and

b) It filled my Art General Education requirement.

Well the equipment for such a class is not cheap and I had no way to afford any of it (hello, poor college student!) so I dropped the class and prayed I could find a way to get the equipment. My prayers were answered when I received the opportunity to submit a proposal for a $2,000 grant to do a Creative Arts project and present it at an Expo next Spring. For my project I'm going to take the class this fall and apply my skills to put together a presentation for the Expo.

I got my shiny new Canon Rebel T5i with and 18-55mm IS STM kit lens and a 55-250mm IS STM lens just in time for my little sister's graduation this weekend! Of course I had to go out and play with it before then and haven't put it down since I got the battery charged. The 55-250mm lens is my favorite of the two but I took some sweet shots with it as you can see here.

My dad was teasing me asking if I was shooting in Auto. My boyfriend, Garrett's mom is also an avid photographer and had advised me to shoot primarily in aperture priority, so that's what I've been using. But all last week I watched camera videos on YouTube and have been playing with shutter speed like a 5-year-old (and I take the thing everywhere - my parents laugh at me).

(There's a bunny in this picture, I promise.)

I've been really excited to learn how to take awesome pictures and I feel like a total professional with my (pretend) fancy equipment. Sorry in advanced if you guys get a ton of photography postings (I'm totally geeking out!!!!) I'm really excited to share my journey with you all and (hopefully!) share some really great photos!

What kind of camera do you have? What kinds of pictures do you like to take?

As always thanks for reading!
Rachel

Rolling with the Tides

This book is quite unlike anything I've ever read before (if I had to compare, it most closely resembled the Mortal Instruments Series). A lot of books, particularly paranormal ones, tell the reader everything up front and use the paranormal aspect to guide the plot and create the climax. Spring Tide uses the plot to build up to the paranormal aspect. I enjoyed not knowing what was going on the whole time. It helps the reader understand what Kris is going through and connect with her.

That being said, I liked the characters and thought the character development was great, especially with Jericho (yum, yum!). While I agree with fellow reviewers that the writing style is a little jumpy in switching from POV to POV, I sense that it's that way for a reason, particularly so the reader is thinking constantly about what could possibly be happening. I don't think this book was intended to be a fluffy read that you could just sort of mindlessly sift through, but a mysterious thinker of a novel.

Despite the need-your-noggin aspect (I started and finished in the same day and wasn't reading all day or up ungodly late [oh, and I read it twice in two days]), it was one of the smoothest and quickest reads I've had in a while (I read a LOT so I'm not just blowing smoke here). While the beginning was a little difficult (mostly because I was saying "what in the world is this about?!), I was still intrigued, especially when Jericho arrived on the scene. I loved reading about the surfing as that's something I'm not exposed to in the Midwest, but I am having difficulty understanding it's relevance to the plot - I have theories and expect we may learn more in the next book (which I am anxiously awaiting).

I can understand my fellow reviewers frustration with confusion. I feel that a lot of this is a result of the sheer amount of information packed in the 300-or-so pages. And connecting the dots in my head resulted in tangles and snags. But sometimes you've just gotta roll with the tides (excuse my pun).

This book will not be everybody's cup of tea, but I highly recommend giving it a try, keeping in mind that it isn't a passive read.