camera lens shopping and tech

i was trying to figure out if i could use an old 55mm lens on my camera which has had a 24 mm on since i bought it. for filming tonight's tech i wanted to have something with more depth. 

since it wasn't focusing properly, i decided to finally buy a new lens. i was very fortunate that the store had a used one in excellent condition for $50. (the salesperson, william, was very helpful.)

 

inside the store . .
 

yes, i did this all the way home . . 

these two were working on the instagram account.

and chanda was getting ready for her next errand before this evening's tech rehearsal . . 

i'll post some of those pics later . . 

zuzu is wondering, what are you doing?

victoria managed to complete all the important and necessary tasks of relocating to a new home and packed up to fly back to paris this evening. morgan and i walked her downstairs with her bags.

i'll post more photos and videos of the tech rehearsal later . .

for christine . . up and running!!!!

christmas did come early for me. i have a new canon rebel t3. it's my first SLR (single-lens reflex) and, once again, i will be able to change lenses and work manually. i've had it for a week now. i've been reading the manual and trying to understand all the ins and outs. usually, i'm not very diligent about reading directions (cough, cough). i was determined things would be different with this camera . . however! it never occurred to me that i would need to install different software for importing my photos (and just what did i think the cd in the box was for that was labeled "EOS digital solution disc?" granted, "solution" does nothing for me. solution? sounds like a chemistry term. i must be quite digital and computer illiterate, i suppose). i plugged in the usb cord to the camera and then to the computer. i opened up iphoto, and turned on the rebet t3 . . nothing happened. i flipped a switch here, clicked a button there . . still nothing. i unpluged everything and examined the camera. it was dead. i flipped the on/off switch. nothing. great. one week in my paws and i had already broken it. a new record for me! but greg came to my technological rescue. he sat down while i was running around getting teacher gifts together and installed the software, recharged the camera, and put it all to rights. today i imported my first pictures. and here is xena!

i was never able to get such a good photo of her with my old camera.

there's still so much to read about . . i'll just squeeze in a lesson here and a lesson there. i actually purchased a dvd with the camera, that will hopefully help me understand the terminology. korrina took a photography course at the new school this past semester. i'm hoping this dvd will be a kind of "homeschooling" photography course for me.