Bought a new lens!

I bought a new lens today. I had been wanting a lens that can take a nice portrait with some depth of field. (soon I will post some pictures) I was looking at the Canon EF 50mm f1.4, but I was able to get a better deal with the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 for less with little difference in image quality. Of course the f1.4 would have been a bit sharper and provided more of blur in the background, but I realized I will save some money and put that towards a zoom lens in the future. This lens is still a sharp image for the money paid! So now my Photography equipment and digital dark room includes:

Body:
CANON REBEL XT

Lenses:
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Canon EF 50 mm - f/1.8 II
Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM

Software:
Adobe Photoshop CS3
Adobe Lightroom 1.4
Photo Matix (for HDR processing)

For Christmas I am thinking a zoom lens. Its time!! I really wish I would have had it when we saw the black bear in Tennessee!!

A montage from my Cousin Sarah's Wedding

Here is montage I did for Sarah's wedding. (Wedding Date August 16, 2008) I think it turned out great, and of course they are a beautiful couple that had the perfect wedding day with a great summer day and scenery! Here is the montage:

Smoky Mountains

Mom, Dad and I flew out from DTW to visit Ryan in Tennessee on October 10. We had a 4 day weekend and visited the Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. We rented a cabin, went hiking and even saw a black bear! We had a great time and here are some pics and video of bear.

P90 X - I hate Yoga, but will try to learn to love it.

So I have started P90X program. A 90 day exercise and nutrition plan. Its meant to get a normal person toned and ripped. ha! We'll see! It involves intense works that include push ups, pull ups, plyometrics, a mean ab ripping dvd and yoga. You would think the Yoga would be easy, but it is the beast! Ok - so here is a pose that I had to do. This is medium difficulty. I hope to post harder poses, but I look like a fool doing them, but here is one where I don't look so much like a fool. Here is my video of Tree Pose in Yoga X. I am on day 12.

Raquetball League

Well softball is coming to an end, Tuesday night was our last league game for girls. My team, Hot Stix ended up in 2nd place. I still have a couple more weeks to go with my Friday and Monday night league. But, my raquetball league started a couple weeks ago and I am 3-0 in the league so far!! Its a ladder league, so i will move to the next level after round 1. Raquetball is quickly becoming one of my favorite sports, so if anyone would like to challenge me...pick a date and time, I'll get the court! Below is a video of what I look like when I play, I am kind of like the guy in the blue. :)

I am now a proud owner of a Wii

Well, I did it. I went out and bought a Wii this past Sunday. I think I played for 5 hours on Sunday. I own Mario Kart and Madden 09, so if anyone wants to play online, give me your friend ID.

Mamma Mia Movie - 6 out of 10

Ok, so I am still not sure how I feel about the movie. I saw it the day after the musical. Of course the musical is 20 times better. But the movie offered some details of characters that you couldn't get from the live stage version. What I didn't like about the movie. The lighting was horrible. Some scenes just looked fake, green screened or like they were in a studio. I am not sure what it was. The backgrounds just didn't match sometimes. Now the location (Greek Islands) they were on was quite beautful in some scenes, but looked overdone sometimes, or not done enough. Maybe they were going for that magical look, not sure. Pierce Brosnan - ok, he cannot sing. He looks uncomfortable singing and I actually laughed out loud when he tries to sing S.O.S. He is fine to look at though. The whole feel of the movie was cheesy, but I actually find myself wanting to see it again for some reason, maybe it is because I can't watch the play again and again.

The Good - Meryl Streep was excellent. Some notes were a little off, but mostly right on. My favorite scene is "The Winner Takes it All," seen below. Christine Baranski was hilarious as best friend Tanya. The scene on the beach with "Does your Mother Know" was fun. And the actress the plays Sophie is a joy to watch. She always has a bright shine to her and she can also sing.