tis the season to be jolly buy.yourself.a.nice.lens

macro has been on the tip of my tongue for a bit

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM

or overkill with:

Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L

tis.the.season.to- ask.your.girlfriend.to.buy.you.a.nice.lens?

   -duncan

//edit::

wow; what a crazy semester- senior design is almost over, and i’ve finally settled my schedule for next semester (and it’s going to be an ugly one, too)

i had a whole ordeal with not having enough credit hours to graduate; because my 5 hours Chinese 204 class isn’t being counted towards my graduation hour requirements, due to my Chinese ethnicity; blows? yeah- pretty much.

what sucks, is that i didn’t take the placement exam to be placed into CHIN204, so my department thinks that i took the class as a ‘blowoff’ class to get an easy A; well, i did end up with an A- in the class, but only because i had to work my butt off. my whole intention of spending tuition money to take that class was to really try improve my Chinese proficiency-
so what happened, was that i voiced my desire to take a Chinese class that would challenge me, and went to see one of the department TA’s to assess my Chinese proficiency- and was then recommended to join the CHIN204 class that i am now not getting credit for.

bah- anyways;
i’m now taking Basic Photography as one of my ‘i-need-to-take-random-classes-to-get-enough-graduation-credit-hour-classes’. i’m really hoping that i dont get kicked out of the class, because, apparently, it says that the prereqs are that i be in the art department, or something like that.

anyways- that is the reason why i’ve been asking around for a 35mm Canon film camera; because we’re supposed to provide our own equip- and i’d like to go canon, because i’m assuming that all my lenses will be interchangeable on the 35mm film camera. i did end up looking on bhphotovideo for used 35mm canon cameras, and i think i can even get one for under 100 bucks; but in the mean time- if you have a 35mm canon film camera, please lend it to me? i’ll do a free photoshoot for you and your family/friends =)

regarding the Basic Photog class; mixed feelings-
i’ve taken B&W photog before in highschool; so i’ve had experience regarding the technicalities of making photograms, looking at tones, and textures- but that was back in highschool; and now i’ll be taking the class with art students-
failure layer? oh.i.think.so
i’m pretty much ready to get my work rocked by the instructor and the other students. i’m assuming that it might be a hard transition, from having the ‘review LCD’ to see my shots- and also the limit of shooting only one roll. i’m so used to being trigger happy, and then selecting ‘the good shot’ from Adobe Lightroom. but- all this should be for the best; maybe it’ll help me be more selective in my shooting in the future

just throwing this up here- Winter Break Schedule::

Semester Ends: Dec 15 2007
Harvest Community Church, Sojourners College Ministry Retreat: Dec 21-23 2007
AF1 Retreat: Dec 23-29 2007
OIL Winter Retreat: Jan 2-4 2008
Semester Starts: Jan 14 2008

well, that was a very long post- endrant?

//endedit::

does anyone here on campus/chicago have a film canon camera that i can borrow for next semester?

i’m short 2 hours on my graduation credits and i was thinking of taking a basic BnW photography class.

let me know please! thanks!

   -duncan

all those who are interesting in learning about digital photography with a dSLR; check out this entry:
http://lifehacker.com/software/feature/master-your-dslr-camera-part-2-manual-mode-and-more-328488.php

this is the basic stuff that i teach people when they ask me to learn about how to use their dSLR; i’ve been meaning to write up something like this, but it looks like i won’t have to do this anymore =)

   -duncan

mmm; i haven’t shot for a while.
or… maybe i have, recently- but i just don’t remember.

what am i talking about.

anyhoo- my gear is locked up in my dorm; so i’m camera-less.
great.

where’s a dSLR when you need one?

======

a continuation of my brain farts::

do you guys remember the first time you held an L? what was the first thought?
or maybe, even the first time you laid eyes on one.

i remember when my first L came in: 24-70mm f/2.8L
i remember thinking that it was so freaking huge and heavy; it was like holding a bomb or something.

i never knew glass weighed that much.

and i remember how smooth the USM focusing sounded-
and how it totally dominated my dinky EOS Digital Rebel; even with the mini battery grip.

yeah; ‘sigh’ i know i’m pretty spoiled.
i’ve lost the ‘ooh-ahhh’ of laying eyes and holding L lenses.

is photography a ‘spoiled’ hobby?

hrmmmm.

   -duncan

dangit; i lost my gary fong lightsphere II…
i really have no idea where i put it.

musta run away during the madness of shooting at either revival or FACT.
sadness

i guess this might give me a chance to try out the frosted lightsphere- bleh

   -duncan

tis the season to be jolly shopping::

color calibration for my monitor?
hmm… perhaps =D

   -duncan

I experienced my first MustardSeeds preparation during FACT 2007::

2370 shutter clicks;
8+ hours of postprocessing and picture sorting;
592 keepers (24.9% keep rate);
FACT 2007 pictures should be up by the end of today;

picture post::
Smugmug: http://leungd.smugmug.com/gallery/3789073#218510556

i heard my first christmas song for this year on the radio;
it’s started already

   -duncan

hmmm… yummy =)

   -duncan

i feel gangsta  because i think i tore something in my ankle-

too bad i just look like i have a fatty ankle; and there really isn’t anything cool looking about it… and that this cool feeling is just fabricated

   -duncan