Picture Perfect

I got a new camera!!! I'm super excited about my new DSLR camera. A couple of my coworkers are really into photography and have given me the bug. I’ve always enjoyed taking photos, but I’ve never really wanted to shell out the money for a nice camera as up until this point I’ve really just preferred being able to throw my compact camera in my purse or back pocket so that I always have it on me.

Now with the blog and all of our great travel experiences, I’ve been wanting to be able to take some better quality photos. My one colleague, V has a super nice professional camera and takes some amazing shots like this one... (you can see more of his photos here)

Photo taken by V (my boss had it printed on canvas and framed for me for Christmas...it will definitely be a fun momento to bring home with us)

V and P helped me do some research on cameras and then when I narrowed it down to two models, V mentioned that he had one of them as a back-up camera that he never uses and was willing to sell it to me. I took him up on the offer and now I’m a proud Nikon D5100 owner.

So far, I’ve just been using P & V’s lenses and accessories, but I recently made a scarily large amazon.com purchase and had a bunch of stuff sent to another coworker’s home in Florida who has agreed to bring my goodies back to the UAE with him next week when he returns from his visit home.

There’s definitely a ton to learn. I’ve started delving into some photography blogs (I already followed a few but they were more about Photoshop than taking the photo itself) and I’ve found a couple of photography podcasts, although I’m not totally sure what I think about those yet.

Anyways, hopefully you’ll be able to tell a little better quality in photos in the future (and a few from some recent posts) and with any luck you’ll get to follow me on this journey of developing my photography skills as I post pictures throughout the years.

I haven’t really had any specific photo ops yet, so you’ll notice that all of my photos are just from me being antsy and wanting to play with my camera at home…

Traditional arabic coffee pots that I bought from the "Antique Museum" in Dubai last year

Some stationary boxes that I use as decorations
(the left one is from my cousin's store and the two blue ones are from the Monet museum in France when I visited with my Mom in the Summer of 2001)

Arabic style lights that I also bought at the Antique Museum in Dubai last February when R&D were here

I love my orchids

the frame that I made out of the old school desks

the other frame and the "love" sign I made from a hanger and yarn (idea from pinterest)

Still holding on to some wedding decoration remnants :)

Having fun with the "selective color" mode of my camera