New Toy!

I got my Mother's Day present on Wednesday, a Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto lens for the Nikon D-50 my husband gave me for Christmas. There's still a lot to learn, but it takes some really awesome photos. The first event I used it at was the Jazz Band and Combo concert. They also had the ensembles going to State Solo and Ensemble contest perform. This picture was taken from near the rear of the high school auditorium and the flautists are near the front of the stage.


This photo is from the same seat, but DS is at the back of the stage. It's a little fuzzy, but the fact that I can get this close gives me encouragement to keep trying.

DS#1 took this photo of the baseball team before the game and after warm up. When I was paging through the photos he took, this one took my breath away. It still does even now.



I took this one on they way into the office from the parking lot. There is this huge flowering bush near the street that is covered with these blooms in the summer. It's a Mexican bird-of-paradise and it is quite lovely.



I still have a lot to learn about this new lens, like taking close-ups in the macro mode. Sometimes it just won't take the picture and I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

This is going to be a busy weekend. Tonight we're going to the baseball game to hopefully watch UTSA clinch sole possession of the Southland Conference Baseball title and DS#2 is helping set up a video display at the church. Saturday I have to take DH shopping to find something to wear to the Band Banquet tomorrow evening, then after the banquet I have to go to work, hopefully not for the whole four hours scheduled. This is our biannual cluster testing weekend that is mandatory for us to attend. The last two of these I participated in went 18 and 22 hours respectively. We've made a few changes to the environment and will hopefully keep it down to the four hours we're allotted. Then on Sunday there are two church services and then I leave for Anaheim, CA for training. I'm not sure, yet, when I'm going to pack.

I hope you all have a great weekend!