... And We're Back!

(I said the title in my best DJ voice, which, by the way, I can only do in my head.)

So, after much fussing about, I now have a new version of Photoshop and a plug-in that makes my computer not hate my camera. Wouldn't it be nice if life were that easy?

Anyway, as I think I mentioned, I got a new camera (the Canon 40D) and a new lens (the 24-70L), both of which I love. All the pictures below were taken with it because I might be slightly obsessed. And get ready, too, because I am heading to Shedd Aquarium this weekend and I am taking this bad boy.

This is a picture of the tree on my stairs (potted, fake) right around 5:30 when the light on it was especially pretty. This was the first actual good picture I took with the camera (because, you guessed it, Flash and Ricker would not sit still).

Oh, this picture. I took this at someone's house while we were doing her senior pictures. And yeah, I am about over the snow so I would imagine that you are too, but when I started this whole blog endeavor, one of my stated goals was to get better at composition. And, well, toot-your-own-horn-alert, because I like the composition of this one. Yay! And the actual victorious part is that I didn't have to think about it especially hard, so I think it's coming more naturally these days.

Yeah, everyone knows I can never resist a poop joke, or apparently poop graffiti. I mean ... is that a phrase you ever thought you'd hear? "Poop graffiti"? Not me, but I love it.

And this last one, I call it Total Eclipse of the Heart. And also, turn around, bright eyes! Anyway. I am IN LOVE with this picture. It was the clearest of my eclipse pictures, which I was having a heck of a time with because it was beyond frigid outside and my eyes were watering and I had no idea if I was focused or not. Ha! Oh, I wish you could've seen it. Billy and I were bundled up and shivering in the middle of the road like idiots (well, I was the idiot, he was the chivalrous knight in shining armor), and my metal (!) tripod was freezing to my hands. The only feeling in my body was pain, and we lasted less than 10 minutes, but you know, I've never seen a lunar eclipse and I loved it, and I can't wait till the next one in 2010. Meanwhile, I was so pleased with my lens for getting craters and such, and the color was perfect. I want to put this one on the wall--that is how much I love it.

Alright, I know that wasn't probably enough pictures to compensate for all the waiting, but not to worry, because as I mentioned, senior pictures are on the way and I am utterly in love with them. So yeah, the editing is a time consuming process, but hopefully they'll be up sometime next week. And then next week I have a wedding, and a couple weeks after that, the engagement pictures start! We're really starting to rock and roll over here!