lindsay blum

Yesterday, Matt and I went to the Saint Charles Riverfest. Unfortunately, it rained during the entire fireworks show. We were lucky enough to hear that O’Fallon had canceled their fireworks show yesterday, and rescheduled their show for tonight. I was able to salvage four, almost decent photos from the night. So, what did I learn from these experiences?

• Next year, I will scout the fire grounds for the best place to shoot. At Riverfest, I was underneath the fireworks, and even shooting at 28mm wasn’t wide enough.
• I need to perfect my timing! Most of my pictures were taken post-explosion. For the best effect, I need to release the shutter at the sound of the explosion–to capture the extending rays of light.
• I will not lock up my mirror. Doing so causes a 2 second delay…
• I need to use a cable release to further avoid camera shake.
• Arrive early!

I shot entirely in manual mode with a tripod. With a long shutter speed ranging from 4 to 8 seconds, I was able to catch light trails. By using an aperture of f/11, I was able to focus on all elements of the explosion. And rather than focusing on infinity (like some suggest), I did my best to focus on the foreground trees. I aim to vastly improve next year!

Canon Digital Rebel XTi, Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6

June 21, 2009

Shot with Canon 70-200mm f/4L USM

Shot with Canon 85mm f/1.8

“To discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment, in order to preserve and enrich life.” – Missouri Botanical Garden mission

Founded in 1859, the Missouri Botanical Garden is the nation’s oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and a National Historic Landmark.

The Garden is a center for botanical research and science education, as well as an oasis in the city of St. Louis. The Garden offers 79 acres of beautiful horticultural display, including a 14-acre Japanese strolling garden, Henry Shaw’s original 1850 estate home, and one of the world’s largest collections of rare and endangered orchids.

The year 2009 marks the Garden’s sesquicentennial anniversary. For over 150 years, the Garden has been an oasis in the city, a place of beauty and family fun—and also a center for education, science, and conservation.

(From the Missouri Botanical Gardnens website– http://mobot.org)

Photographs taken with Canon 85mm f/1.8 in Av Mode

Bison Crossing

Matt accompanied me to the World Bird Sanctuary in Valley Park, MO, which is part of the Saint Louis Parks division. I was in store for a treat! After over a week of feeling sick and staying mostly indoors, I was really excited to go outside and roam around. The World Bird Sanctuary hosted many species of birds, my favorites being the bald eagles and the pair of pelicans. Close by lies Lone Elk Park, a protected enclosure featuring deer, bison, elk, and just about everything else native to Missouri. Since the animals are free-roaming, we were able to get really close. It is a beautiful area, and I can’t wait to go again!

“The World Bird Sanctuary is both a unique St. Louis attraction and entertaining environmental education opportunity. With over 305 acres and over 200 animals in our care, we offer a one-of-a-kind wildlife experience. The World Bird Sanctuary’s mission is to preserve the earth’s biological diversity and to secure the future of threatened bird species in their natural environments. We work to fulfill that mission through education, captive breeding, field studies and rehabilitation. The World Bird Sanctuary is one of North America’s largest facilities for the conservation of birds. WBS is on the leading edge of public awareness regarding the plight of bird species worldwide.”

–The World Bird Sanctuary

Shot with Canon Rebel XTi and 85mm f/1.8 USM

LG Vu (wine)

After dropping $400+ on the Sony Ericsson k790a, I didn’t expect that I would get a new phone for years, but when I first touched the LG Vu, I must admit that I fell in love!

As an avid picture-taker, the initial appeal to the SE k790a, besides being made by Sony, was the top-of-the-line 3.2 megapixel camera. I used my old phone as a secondary camera quite often, and will miss that feature.

But moving on…

I have the LG Vu (CU 920) in the color “wine”. The Vu is a sleek, elegant smart phone that luckily does not require a service plan unlike other smart phones. The learning curve for the touch screen was short-lived–it took me a few hours to get it completely down. However, I rarely use the qwerty keyboard for texting, as I often accidentally misspell words.

My only complaints are: Occassionally, when trying to dial a contact’s phone number, my phone will connect to my voicemail instead. Also, LG has something against Google or has Java issues, because I cannot install the handy GMail application. Rather, I have to go to Gmail’s website and must enter my user ID and password EVERY time. It is really annoying.

I really, really love my new phone!

My Poor Car

Of all weeks to be burglarized, it had to be a week that I have two exams on top of my normally hectic and  busy school/work week. My car was unfortunately broken into. The rapscallions made off with my Passport radar detector, and luckily, that was all. This could not be more inconvenient! Now, I have to find time to get my window repaired and re-tinted.

I have never had the experience of having my property damaged or stolen, so I guess it was time to get a double-whammy. Stealing is WRONG! Damaging property is WRONG! I do not care how bored your are, do something other than breaking into cars and stealing expensive equipment.

Thanks a lot, you jerks!