I know it’s not the Fourth of July yet (the United States Indpendence Day), but I thought I’d share with you all some photos I took last Friday (June 27). I snapped off about a 150 picks and half turned out to be useful. And there’s a handful of stellar shots (at least I think so). See the photo gallery.
I go to a lot of baseball games during the summer. I usually go to the South Bend Silverhawks, the local minor league (A) affiliate for the Arizona Diamondbacks. It’s an affordable way to take in a game of baseball.
Back in May, Ryne Sandberg and the Peoria Chiefs made the annual trek to South Bend for a three game series. Sandberg, if you don’t know, was a popular Chicago Cubs player back in the 1980s. The Chiefs are the minor league affiliate for the Chicago Cubs. Seeing as how South Bend is a “Chicago” baseball town (sort of, there’s a few Tigers, Indians, Cardinals fans… BOOO…), it makes perfect sense that the game is a popular attraction for Chicago fans.
This is a pic from the game.
The Chiefs won the game. And it was great seeing Sandberg. Last year, I got his autograph before a game. Cool! 
Aramis Rameriz at the bat. Taken during the May 9, 2008 Cubs game in Chicago, IL. The Cubs swept the Arizona Diamondbacks during the weekend series. It was cold that day. I think the hot cocoa man got swamped whenever he came by the seats.
This was taken on Father’s Day, June 15. The South Bend Silverhawks versus the Dayton Dragons. The Silverhawks (the hometeam) lost. The ‘hawks went ahead early in the game, but lost it in the 10th.
Here’s another squirrel picture. Taken from my backyard. He lives in the tree with his other squirrel friends. The other day a squirrel was sitting on our back porch like he belongs there. One of these days, he’s going to sneak inside the house and be in a for big surprise. Two cats who don’t like squirrels.
(click image for bigger version)
I like taking pictures of animals. We have a lot of squirrels who live in the trees around my house. I took this one the other day. He was so cute in the yard. (About as cute as a squirrel can get.) So anyways, I was out in the yard taking some photos of some flowers when I saw the squirrel in the yard. I framed the shot and took a couple of pics of him.
Caption: Now where did I bury that nut?
This *is not* a professional photography service.
Now that I cleared that up, I want to take this opportunity to share with you all a hobby of mine. It’s a family trait. It started with my grandfather, who was a avid photographer and then my dad and now me. I love to take photos and as you’ll see in my galleries, it is primarily of landscapes and sporting events. With some zoos, conventions and parks thrown into the mix.
I have three cameras that I use (four, but I sold that one). My first digital camera was a Olympus C750. Pretty lowend on the digital point-and-shoot cameras that look like SLR cameras. It was a 10x optical zoom at 6 megapixels. It was a decent camera.
My next digital camera (which I call my main backup) is a Canon Powershot S5. Released last year, this guy is at the high end of Canon’s point-and-shoot cameras. This is a 8 megapixel 12x optical zoom camera. I have two accessories for this camera. A telephoto lense extender (pictures are shot and not that great) and a wide angel lense.
My “new” main camera is a Canon EOS digital rebel XT (350D). This is a DSLR camera and is at the low-end of Canon’s DSLR line-up. The model is about three years old, but is till one of their popular entry level DSLR camera’s. It’s 8 megapixels. I have the following accessories: Speedlite 430EX Canon flash, 18-55mm lens, 28-105mm USM lens and a 75-300mm lense. I love the camera already. But I won’t kid you. Going from point-and-shoot to DSLR is not easy as it sounds. Practice makes perfect, they say. All of my lenses are Canons and if I can, I intend to keep that way.
Now someone might ask, why did you go to a DSLR camera that requires lenses. Well, for starter, a DSLR camera gives you a lot of options. Now, even though my Canon Powershot S5 can be called a DSLR wanna be (you can pretty much make it act like a DSLR), it didn’t offer me the features that I wanted from a camera.
My next camera is one of those pocket digital cameras. This is a Kodak. It’s about the size of the credit card and about 3/4 inches thick. Takes pretty decent pictures. And if you don’t require a zoom, then this camera is pretty easy to use if you just want something to take photos with at a moment’s notice.
I’ll try to take a pic or two a day and show them off.