New camera

WOW. Patrick knew I wanted a new camera for Christmas, and I'm not exactly a subtle hinter. My old Canon Powershot from 2008 was hanging in there, but showing more black than silver through on its housing, and suffering some weird image disintegration issues. What I wanted, what I thought it was practical to want, was a new Powershot. A sturdy workhorse replacement, no bells and whistles but perfectly serviceable.

What I got is a Nikon D3200, SLR. What the pros use. I am thrilled and seriously intimidated at the same time.

I haven't taken it out of automatic (point & shoot) mode yet, and I've been walking around taking pictures of random things. The hexagons I'm working on by the fire, for example.

And the little village church. When I posted about my snow village, weeks ago, the pictures were so godawful I almost didn't post them-- but what could I do? With the flash on things would've looked worse, any sort of artificial light made everything look fake, and the subtle daylight that room gets would just wash things out. Now I can do it justice.

This is our front door screen, festooned with snowflakes the night after Christmas.

The scene outside, that night.

Our neighbors' house in the blizzard.

Breakfast.

And dinner too. 

I still need to properly figure out how to use the thing, but for now I'm just loving the thrill of making gorgeous photos again. That depth-of-field business-- the way everything in the background becomes a dreamy blur-- is especially exciting. 

I am thirty. I have a new camera and a bunch of other fun new things (wheelbarrow! shiny Anthropologie knobs! amber earrings! floor jack!) and a whole white, white, white winter to look forward to. Right now I am feeling acutely stitchy, and plan to spend the whole day doing just that. With breaks to eat leftover stuffing for lunch, of course. 

I hope your holidays were peaceful and lovely! And btw, whatever comment issue was tripping things up last week has been fixed. :)

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