Random musings from the blogosphere.

So yesterday I followed the lead of my good friend and whittled down my facebook contact list. I was sick and tired of farmville, animal planet, and whatever stupid games are on there (yes, there ARE some stupid games in the world) AND people's mindless dubbings cluttering up my daily news section in facebook. I appreciate the some folks WANT to announce that they are drinking burnt coffee to the world once in a while. But... hourly updates are a bit much. Blah. Anyway, I, at my peak of facebooking, had a contact list in the realm of 190 people. After the purge, I hit 53. I can still whittle some down, but I don't want to cut ALL my reading public out for this blog (as it is the only place I advertise it!).

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Sample unedited HP Camera Shot

Photography is a wonderful thing. I truly started taking pictures as a serious hobby about 5 or 6 years ago. I had just separated from my ex-fiancee (should you be reading this, you are still wonderful dear! Congrats on the pregnancy!) and basically needed something to curb my then depressed thoughts. I picked up a HP 4.1MP superzoom camera. To be honest with you, it really sucked save for the long lense on it. It left a focus line through the middle of most shots and the colours were really muted in it.I did get some lovely shots with it. (I SHOULD have, given I took over 10000 pics with it)



Sample edited Photo from the Sony.

I later moved to a Sony DSC-H5.1MP 12x optical zoom. It, also, is a weak camera but once again, I have shot over 10000 pics with it, so I've managed to get some real beauties out of it.




I've just added a couple of shots that I had handy here. You can check out my flickr account for more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/44173374@N04/.

The photography bug just hasn't been with me lately, as I've had significant difficulty coming up with ideas for pictures. Here in Newfoundland, it's hard to get creative about it as pretty much everything feels like it's be done already. So, I'm left somewhat of a dilemma. I am now part of a local group called Camera 35 (many of whom have pics on flickr as well, accessible via the link above). We have a little competition ongoing now where we have to shoot:

1. A self portrait
2. Something with the theme of "desolate".

I want to be different. Anybody can shoot in the mirror or set a timer and shoot themselves or go shoot a rock quarry for desolate. I want something bold, original, and a joy to look at. I was thinking greyscale for the self portrait, but that's pretty much as far as I've got for any of it. I still have about 7 days for this one, but it'll be a struggle.

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Finally, back to the games realm, I wanted to talk a little about Tomb Raider: Underworld. I sampled a crumb of this cookie of doom last night and have to say I'm somewhat disappointed. While it is a turn for the better from the pitiful outings the franchise has had in the past 5 or 6 years, it's still difficult to control, camera angles and control are bad, and still has the feel on a last gen game. I won't be too hard on it yet, as I've just completed the prologue and have much running and shooting to complete before I can pass judgement... but if this were the entire game, it'd be a BIG disappointment.


C