Hobbies.

1.  I don't have enough of them.
I have very little time for my hobbies.  So, I thought, "What the heck, lets add another one!"  Between my movies, TV, video games, knitting, reading, beer-making, THIS BLOG and shredding old fools at basketball...I think I can squeeze one more in.

So, what is this new hobby?  Photography.  With Henry growing up right in front of my eyes, the urge to "capture" as much of him as possible motivates me.  It would be great to learn some basic concepts and practice them on my little "model."

Good news.  I kinda hit the jackpot.  My dad has a fantastic old school SLR camera that uses 35mm film PLUS 4 different lenses.  The camera has not been used since the mid-90s.  So, he was more than willing to let me mess around with the camera to.... A) see if it still works and B) see if I have some skills.  I will not make you wait.  The answers are.......IT DOES and I DO. 

After I got the camera, my wife found a GROUPON for a photography class that was about "capturing true emotion."  So, that was my birthday present back in October.  I had some reservations about going.  I didn't know if I would learn that much b/c everything is digital these days.  Just take a pic...review it instantly...make adjustments...take a pic...review it.  That is not the case for with my Olympus OM-1.  This bad boy was made in 1979.  There is no reviewing process.  There isn't an LCD screen.  This is FILM.  Did you know...they still make film?  They do.  It isn't cheap.  However, the class was amazing.  I learned a ton in the 4 hours there.  It really gave me a good foundation on how to take great photos.  So, after that....I had to go see if I could incorporate these skills I learned to actual photos.  Here are some of the pictures I took.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well some of the pictures turned out.  The last one has quite a few blemishes due to the film.  But there is a certain quality of nostalgia or ... something that makes it cool anyway.  Some didn't turn out...due to user error.  Manual focus is difficult.  You are working with such a small viewfinder. 

After this, I started looking for a digital camera.  I found a cool one.  Good reviews.  However, the part that makes cameras expensive are the lenses.  I already have 4 of them....but they do not fit on the new digital cameras.  My problem was solved with a little searching on the web.  There is an adapter ring you can buy and mount it on a digital camera....then your old school lenses connect to the adapter ring.  And bingo....they work.  There are some drawbacks.  There is no auto-focus or things like that...so it is still quite manual.  However, I can instantly review my pictures.

Maybe I will learn some cool tricks and post them here.  Sound good?  Here is a parting shot of downtown Houston from Discovery Green park.  You can actually see my window (at work) in this shot.  I will give you a hint.  I work in a high rise...