Hope You Voted!

I've had a busy couple of days riding around on the bus doing things.

Yesterday, I went (on the bus, very early) to the county dental clinic, and they are going to fix my teeth!

Then, I had to go to the doctor's office to get a note from the doctor, and a prescription (so that the dentist will work on my teeth). Although there were regular office hours on Monday, they were not open for some reason.

Which segues into today.

Today, I got up early for me, but not as early as yesterday, and ran out to vote without a shower or brushing my teeth. The water was off this morning and so the lack of ablutions.

The busses were NOT going to the polls today, so I rode to the nearest stop and walked. Although the people there said it had been quite busy earlier, there was no line when I arrived, and each voter was almost able to go through the whole process solo. I was in and out so quickly that I was totally surprised.

After walking to the polling place, I found that I was now in between two bus stops, and one of them was the one where I usually get off to walk to the clinic. So I had a loooong walk over to the doctor's office, and after a short wait, was successful in getting the note and the prescriptions I needed/wanted. I talked the doctor into giving me a heavy duty Rx for Valium, too. Dentists stress me so much, and I used to be able to avoid it by having them tell me what they were doing as they worked, but my hearing problems make that impractical. Hence, the request for Valium.

Then, it was back on the bus to Potomac Mills Mall to look at a camera that's just come out. 

I was really upset to discover that Ritz Camera doesn't have either of the cameras I was considering. They seem to be doing a brisk business online, but the store I went to was one of their main stores, and they had very little. The shelves looked very empty. They did have some nice camera bags, but nothing that was really tempting.

Back to the bus for a ride to Best Buy, which had one of the cameras I am interested in. At the same price as everyone else. I mean, this is Best Buy! I expected a better-than-average price, but no. They had the same price I could get anywhere (except Ritz Camera). At least I did get to see the actual camera and try out the different functions.

It's amazing! 

I looked at the Canon Powershot SX 10 IS, and loved it! They're not kidding about how long the lens is. It went from a real wide angle to nearly telescopic! The thing I loved was that the camera would make a good stab at focusing, but the instant you moved to include a face, it immediately focused on the face! And when I set it to the right timer setting, I could pan around to various background shots, and it waited until it could see a face, and then took the photo! I love this camera! I just didn't love it enough to pay an extra $100 to buy it at Best Buy. I'll get it elsewhere and save. 

Unfortunately, that means I won't have it this weekend. I probably wouldn't have taken a lot of photos at Stitches anyway, but we were going to ride the water taxi (maybe), which would have given me the chance for some good photos, and I would really like to take some good photos of Holly and Lynn. We might go to the aquarium in Baltimore, too.

So, I got home, totally exhausted, at about 6 pm.

 There's not much to watch on TV except the voting results, which are just starting to come in now. The results are exciting, but watching it on TV is like watching glacier races. It makes me want to watch something else, and check in on it periodically.

Have a great evening!

Photography for the Internet

I'm getting no feedback here about what kinds of things you might want to photograph, so here's a (comparatively) cheap and simple way to go.

First of all, a Canon Powershot A620 camera. I recommend this for several reasons. 

You can set it to "auto" and it will handle most situations with out a lot of thought or effort on your part. It still has settings for close-ups of small objects. Point-and-shoot, but with the ability to do more complicated things without a lot of work on your part.

This has the vari-angle LCD viewfinder so that you can take a photo of yourself wearing a hat/poncho/sweater  you want to sell and see if you're really in the frame. If you want to do this, you'll need a tripod, or other means of holding the camera in place. Actually, a small tripod would be a help for close-up photography of small objects, too.

You may also want a slave flash for more complicate lighting set-ups. Don't worry about a lot of technical stuff. You can add a slave almost anywhere if you have it pointed at your subject and improve the lighting of your photo. You may have to set the camera to underexpose slightly to get a good exposure. Experimentation with your particular camera will work best.

And, if you want to take your camera with you to just take photos for you, you'll need a bag to carry it in. I found a nice, small, light one in tan, and also in navy. I was also lucky enough to find the ultimate bag for the knitter. It's a backpack with easily accessible space in the bottom for your camera gear, and a large open space for your current knitting project, a book to read, etc. And, as if that weren't enough, it has a special compartment for a laptop computer. Check my store for more bags.

If you plan to take photos of very small things at home, you could use two small, gooseneck lamps for lighting, positioned on either side of the object. A nice, unobtrusive background would be good, too. Check out your local thrift store or Chez Tarjay for a plain dish towel or other small piece of fabric in some nice colors for backgrounds.

And don't forget, you can leave a comment with a question on all this, and I'll do what I can to help. But you may not have any problems. This equipment will make your photographing life SOOOO much easier.