Being a Graduate Student has its perks...

... such as when the university buys you this:


Yes, it's the new Macbook Air. It's thinner than a magazine and it fits in my purse! It just arrived today and it is quickly becoming my favorite possession. Thank you, research fund!

And while we are talking about technology, Bella, my friend - guess what you just inspired us to buy?

It's the Nikon D60 DSLR camera. We bought a cheap used version on craigslist because we don't have money and the university doesn't pay for this one :-). I am anticipating some events worth photographing in the near future and I figured I should practice now. Bella, my dear, uh, what do I do with this baby now? :-)

A. W.

6 comments:

Lee said...

Nice blog! I like your photo. I'm doing practice GRE here: masteryourgre.com . I hope it's useful for GRE test takers.

April.W + Hien.N said...

OMG JEALOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Should we start our 52-wk projects? ;D Hxxx

Unknown said...

Darling check this out:
http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/2010/11/02/mistakes-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+joemcnally+(Joe+McNally's+Blog)
This is so useful for us beginners <3

Unknown said...

Oh my gosh congratulations on both beautiful things!!! :D I'm excited to hear about this 52 week project. DO it! It really helps. A good place to start is join Flickr and maybe also join this group - http://www.flickr.com/groups/whysobluepandabear/ - the 52 week group (plus it doesn't hurt to check out other groups and photographers for inspiration too :) )

And then the next thing would be the lens, what lens did your camera come with? One of my favourite lens which also happens to be my cheapest is the 50mm f1.8 (or 1.4 if you have a little more money). It's a great portrait lens and gives the most beautiful blurry backgrounds!

If you're gonna be taking selfies then all you need is a good tripod and remote and you're all set to go! :D Have fun!! B xx

April said...

@Lee: thanks for visiting. I actually really enjoyed the GRE, especially compared to the MCAT. I had to take both!
@Hien: I will definitely check that out! We must start some sort of projects. Will email you later on details :-).
@Bella: Thank you Bella!! The lens it came with was AFS Nikkor 18-55mm, 1:3.5-5.6. Is it terrible that I don't even know what those numbers mean? lol I will definitely look into the 50mm f1.8 and will sign up for Flickr today. Oh, the camera did come with a tripod, though I don't see any remote. Like I said, I bought it used so I had no idea.

Bella, you are so inspirational that you make all of us want to be just a little bit more like you :-).

Unknown said...

Haha I'm really nothing special! Honestly the way you go on :p I just like taking pictures :)

Your lens is an f. 3.5-5.6 and that's the aperture measurement. So if the aperture is set to 3 that's the highest amount of light that the camera will let in.

So the lower the number, eg, f1.8, f1.4 etc the wider the aperture and it lets in a ton of light making it possible to get good shots in low level light situations, eg. the evening, dark rooms, etc. That's why lens these lens are a little bit pricier.

That doesn't mean that you can't still take good shots at night. And if you have your camera on a tripod/ resting on something and change the shutter speed you can get beautiful long exposure shots.

Hope this helps and that it makes sense.

If you have any questions just feel free to email me (bellakotak@gmail.com)

I'm happy to help! :) xx

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