I know I just made you look at Amelia yesterday, but OH. MY. Goodness! Look at this:
If you think that is a good photo, just listen to this: My son made the #1, and my daughter in law and her friend took the photo in their garage, using a sheet as the backdrop. How smart is that? I think they did a fabulous job of it, and saved a ton of money too! Good job, Seth, Sarah, and Jennifer.
A couple of weeks ago, Amazon had PaintShop Photo Pro X3 on sale for the ridiculously low price of $25 and free shipping. I have wanted this for a long time, so I went for it. I finally got around to loading it on my computer today and play around with it. I am loving it, so far. I took this photo:
and turned it into my header up there at the top of my blog. It was relatively easy to do, and I think I like it better than the old one of just green leaves. Plus, that other photo was a free clip art image, and this one is one I took myself. I feel so proud!
p.s. I think those flowers are fleabane–they were growing at the entrance station at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, where I worked this summer. They are only about 4 or 5 inches tall at most, so I had to get down on the ground and use the macro setting on my camera to get this shot. I have an Olympus 600 SP-UZ600. So, what do you think of the new decor?
After studying the different cameras available on the market, and talking to several knowledgeable people, I had decided to buy a Nikon D5000. It is a digital SLR camera with good reviews and a lot of good features. At around $700 for the body and two lenses, and a battery charger and an SD card, it would have been a good camera for me to use while I learned how to use a digital SLR because it would also take pictures in automatic mode. That’s where the camera does all the settings automatically so you don’t have to think about it. But, alas, it was not in the cards for me to get that camera right now.
That is because the night before last, after dinner, I broke my partial plate. For anyone who wears dentures or a dental device like a partial plate, you know how expensive that can be. I got the plate in 2005, when we were still living in south Texas, 8 miles from the Mexican border. I walked across the border, had six teeth extracted, and had the partial plate made, for a total expense of $400. That included an antibiotic and pain meds to take after the extractions. I never thought about the thing breaking. Heck, I didn’t even know it COULD break. And I didn’t know you could only expect a partial plate to last for five to seven years!
After my initial shock, I did what any other sane person would do–I googled the internet for “repairs to partial plate”. The most important thing I learned from that search is that MY partial can not be repaired, because it broke on the metal part. They can only make repairs if it is the plastic part that broke.
My next search was for what it would cost to get a new partial plate made. In the United States, a partial plate like mine would cost me a whopping $1500 to $2000 at a regular dentist’s office! I know dental work is expensive, but this is not even a full set of teeth we are talking about here. At discount denture place I found, I can get a new set of teeth for about $650, but I would still have to drive down to Phoenix, twice. And that would also involve staying in a motel overnight both times, because it is just too far to go there and back in one day. So, we are still trying to decide whether to go to Yuma and walk across to Mexico, go to Phoenix, or wait and go to the outlet they have in Georgia in November. I CAN eat, just not a steak or a pork chop. And it would be sooo much easier to wait and go in Georgia when we get back east.
At any rate, in anticipation of having to spend at least $650 out of pocket, I decided it wouldn’t be prudent to also spend over $700 for a new camera, even though I really really want it. So, when we went to Kanab today, I bought an Olympus SP-600UZ. It is NOT an SLR camera, but it is a pretty good digital camera for under $200. It has lots of good features, including taking pretty good videos. The pictures come out clear and with good color. Which is what I want a camera to do.
It takes pretty decent photos of people:
It does pretty good on close-ups:
Landscapes:
And zoom:
Full sun does not wash out the color of the sky and forest:
And just because I like this photo:
So, even though I didn’t get the camera I wanted, I DID get one, and that is a good thing. Now for those teeth…..
In case you didn’t catch it in the last sentence of my last post, I LOST MY CAMERA! Can you believe that? I, who have my camera permanently attached to my hand, LOST MY CAMERA. I am so sad. So disappointed in myself for being so careless. So lost myself. How can I possibly blog without my camera?
SO, I am in the market for a new one. I really really really want a DSLR. I have never used an SLR or a DSLR, but I am so amazed at what you can accomplish with one. I am looking at the Nikon D3000 and the D5000, and at the Olympus E-Pl1. So, if you have used one of these, please let me know in a comment what you think of them.
Also, if you have an amazing digital point and shoot, let me know what it is and why you love it so. I need to get a new camera like, yesterday. Can you believe, I lost that camera with pictures of rare fog at the Vermilion Cliffs? A fabulous shot of a thunderstorm over the Painted Desert? A wonderful cloud formation over the San Francisco Peaks? or the happy, giddy, FabGrandpa’s face? I am in mourning, people!
I am so happy! I sold another photo that I took. I am “FabGrandma, the Famous Photographer”, hahaha! Now if I could just sell one more often than every 8 months or so…
I will let you all see the fab photo that I sold, here it is:
Now, does anyone out there know where this is? I will tell you if you get it right.
And for those of you who want to know, I get $30 for it. I am so not going to get rich but I love knowing that someone actually bought one of my photos.
