Rainy day...

"A new camera will not make you a better photographer. Only YOU can do that. And it's not done by reading the rants and raves on every new piece of gear that comes out each week. So shut down that MacBook, grab your camera and get out there and make some magic happen!"

-Jeff Lynch

I would have shut down the MacBook, grabbed my camera and went outside to enjoy the day to take pictures but unfortunately, the rain decided to foul the plans. So instead, it was a baking day.

We've gone the yuppie route and own a bread maker and are determined to bake every recipe in the book. There are still a lot of bumps and hurdles that we have gone through and have yet to find the perfect recipe but we'll keep trying. Today's delight was the standard French Bread. We would have had bread first thing this morning due to the wonderful timer but we accidentally made it with "white whole wheat" flour. That was not a good idea since the loaf came out like a brick. So instead we had lunch bread with the correct "white bread flour" and had a nice, warm loaf for lunch. One draw back with all the breads we've made is the tough crust...it's great when freshly out of the machine but a few hours later, not so much.

I'm looking forward to making some beer bread...that should be next on the list :)

• baked bread smell is intoxicating •

Lensplaying

I recently bought myself a Canon 50mm prime lens and have been having so much fun with the new toy. I thought that it would be limiting to work with a fixed lens but it's been a learning experience to work with the limitations and learn to be creative in order to get the desired shot. It's a fast lens, perfect for the price (less than a hundred for a Canon lens!) and works really nicely with low light. It doesn't have the best bokeh (like my other favorite 70-200mm lens but that's heavy to always carry around) but it works for me and my playing. Of course, it's only just playing but it's been a lot of fun building up the mad camera skills. There are a few more camera lenses that I'm looking into getting but for now, I'll just keep playing with this lens!

• happy bokeh •

• sitting by the fire? •

• holiday lights •

• two in one holidays •