My birthday has just passed and my original intention had been to ask for Photoshop as my present but as per my last post, my MDM turned that on its head and I decided I wanted a 400mm Sigma lens instead. Knowing the cost I suggested that my wonderful family get it as a present for me next year so we can save for it rather than buying it now and struggling, particularly as it was a last minute change of mind.
Did I mention how wonderful my family is? I came downstairs and there was a huge box, beautifully wrapped and my girls waiting for me to open it. Sure enough it was a huge penile extension of a lens, 2ft long fully extended, an embarrassingly huge, manly piece of kit with a carry handle/tripod mounting bracket attached. The quality is fantastic but more importantly, it is the lens to make every other snapper feel inadequate. It doesn't matter whether my shots are good or bad, the assumption is that I must be a serious snapper as I have a huge apendage attached to my camera. I would guess that it is the photographers equivalent to a blonde in a fast car midlife crisis moment.
I haven't taken any shots that I wish to share at this moment as I didn't realise the difference in skill set between landscape and wildlife. I didn't even consider that one moves pretty damned fast and the other is a waiting game. I have multiple shots of the rear end of birds (the feathered kind), some are even in focus and even more shots of empty sky. I have no idea how the wildlife photographers take some of those incredible shots but they have gone up tenfold in my estimation.
It is good to learn new skills and as Autumn draws to a close, I tend to feel slightly sad to see another year pass, particularly as it has been an exciting and busy year. The grey, drab weather doesn't help so to learn a new skill and a new way of seeing has certainly brightened this years end.
I am starting to reflect on what I have seen this year and I can tell you that this is a wonderful Country with so much hidden charm and beauty. I would recommend everyone to buy OS maps and plan days away, there is so much to see and do and so much to fall in love with. I remember as a child, my Dad would pack us into a car and we'd drive for miles. We would consider 100 miles to be nearly there and I have some great memories of things we saw and experienced as children, I learnt to understand that the journey there and back are also part of the day. I want my children to have their own memories but to have also experienced the length and bredth of the UK as I did.
I recommend that everyone get in a car, take the family but do get out there and see things. Buy a book on things to see and work through it check at a time. I am getting up at 4.30 most Sunday mornings and going somewhere. I have given myself 5 hours so I am home by 10.
There is always time to experience something new you just have to create it.
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