Saturday, November 01, 2008

Weekend Beagle Blogging

I got a new camera for my birthday this year. I wanted a digital SLR but couldn't justify the cost, especially for additional lenses. So I got something close: a 10 megapixel Olympus SP-570 ultra-zoom. It has the longest superzoom lens on a compact camera, covering the 35mm equivalent range of 26-520mm.

I've dabbled in 35mm photography since high school, even had my own black and white dark room for awhile. But I could no longer afford it as a true hobby. But since my new camera is digital and includes a 2gb memory card, I can "waste" as many shots as I want without spending any money except on batteries. I'm still figuring out all the settings and getting used to a fully automatic camera. I haven't grown out of the habit of wanting to manually focus, manually adjust the aperture and manually setting shutter speed. I CAN do all of that with this camera, but for now am just having fun composing and viewing the results on the 2.7-inch LCD screen.

All the above is to set up a Baxter photo of the boy looking intently out at the Finley River in Ozark.



Here's what he's looking at:



I've dubbed it the Finley River Monster, or Fermie. It raised up out of the water for only a few seconds and I hurriedly snapped a couple shots. Here's one a bit closer:



Fermie startled me so much I didn't really take time to compose or focus or adjust anything, hence the shaky, blurry photos. Could this be photographic evidence of some ancient elusive creature inhabiting the Finley River? You think anyone would give me a grant for further exploration?