It's been about a year and a half since I uploaded a photo to this account, and for good reason:

My camera broke.

Yes, I'm slightly sad to say that my faithful old Canon Powershot A70 bit the dust about 9 months ago. Why only slightly sad? Because I was growing out of that camera, and the limitations of the camera were starting to limit what I wanted to do with photography. So, instead of going out and getting another point-and-shoot, I saved up and got a DSLR.

I'm the proud owner of a new Nikon D40. Since I know next to nothing about SLRs, I'm taking it slow. I've read plenty of reviews and spoken to many photographers who have recommended the D40 as a good 'beginners SLR.' I even tried one out before finally making the plunge and getting one of my own.

Today I went out to a local park and just experimented, found things that worked and didn't work, and learned the harsh lesson of not having the right lens attached at the right time! A red-tailed hawk flew RIGHT overhead, and I didn't have my zoom lens attached. It was sitting in the bag around my shoulder mocking me as the hawk flew by. I got a couple of shots, but they're not nearly close enough.

But, I'm very happy with what I can do with this camera. As the sun was going down, I got to experiment with low-lighting, and I got some interesting shots. I've uploaded the three I feel are the best from the evening, and I'll be sure to upload more, as there's nothing keeping me from taking pictures anymore!