The first bird pictures - 2/18/15

Almost a full 5 years ago from writing this, about 2 months short. I finally have some of my first tastes of the photography I would later dive full into. Shortly after the Lego Minecraft building of the last post. We had a bit of snow up in the North Carolina mountains. And for whatever reason I do remember thinking to fill up the bird feeder. Which thankfully is right in sight of one of the basement windows.

Which leads to the first example of bird photography I ever took. 172 images that mostly are of bird butts as they turned away from me. I’ve hand picked a few now that I took with the Rebel T3i and the unknown Tamron telephoto lens I was borrowing from my father.

1/1600 sec - F5.6 - 210mm - ISO 800

1/400 sec - F5.6 - 210mm - ISO 3200

1/80 sec - F5.6 - 55mm - ISO100

1/400 sec - F7.1 - 210mm - ISO 320

1/2000 sec - F5.6 - 210mm - ISO 800

So here they are. Actually a fairly decent spread of birds to be honest. Likely due to the fact that the snow had just started to fall and free food. Why would you want to pass that up.

It would be years before I really tried again with birds I think. But these officially are the first wildlife photos I ever took. Have to start somewhere, and shooting jpg, through a window, in a full auto mode was a good place. I would have a lot to learn from here.

Lego Minecraft - 2/15/15

My girlfriend has a spending problem.

I say that as has, because almost 6 years later it’s still a problem. Although significantly less so as we’ve both become far more responsible. But considering the date was so closed to Valentine’s day, she probably gave me this gift as a special treat. Although to be clear, she would spend her last dollar making someone else smile.

I’ve checked with the authority, this purchase was likely over $200 and was a hassle. Multiple stores were visited to find all of them. But by the time she came to visit me in NC, she had this as a gift.

That would be every available Minecraft Lego set at the time. An AMAZING gift, so much so I had to bring out my camera to record this memory.

1/50 - F4.5 - ISO 1600

1/50 - F5.6 - ISO 3200

1/50 - F5 - ISO 3200

Always a good time building Lego.

A change of Scenery - 2/9/15

Some months have passed since the camera was put to use. Life finds a way of getting in the way. And I had decided to quit my job, break my lease and move back in with my dad in his new house up in NC. Christmas Eve or day, don’t really remember which exactly. I packed up a uhaul and headed on up.

All in all not a bad situation honestly, I spent about a month doing woodworking projects. Playing video games, watching movies. And helping out around the house. Of course that couldn’t last very long and I had to find work and keep paying my bills. I landed a job at a grocery store, which makes sense considering the background at that time.
Sometime around this I do remember one of the siblings coming to visit, and evidently I dusted off the T3i. These are some longer exposure shots while we were down in the basement (where I was living) with probably all of the lights off.

1/3 - F 5.6 - 55mm - ISO 3200

1/2 - F4 - 24mm - ISO 3200

G-g-g-g-ghost!

New location, new job, new outlook. I was far happier even making considerably less money. I should have learned that lesson then honestly, but it would be a lot longer before that ideology really sinks in.