Before this latest snowstorm, we took advantage of an unusually warm day in Iowa with a walk in the park to spot bald eagles.

While we were happy to see a couple eagles, the highlight of the walk was viewing a Red-Tailed Hawk only 8-10 feet from us.  He had caught a squirrel (not pictured here, no need to look away) so when we walked by he was reluctant to leave and instead gave me wonderful photo opportunities.

Thanks to my mom for letting me borrow the long lens, but then I hardly even needed it with the hawk so close.

- Clarissa

NGHubby pulled off a very successful surprise this Christmas and gave me my first DSLR camera.  He secretly worked with my mom to research and pick out the perfect one, and then surprised me with it Christmas morning.  I’ve been dreaming of one for quite some time so I am very excited about it.  “Santa” gave me a book all about photography and the specifics of my camera, so I’m excited to get into that.  For Christmas week, though, I used mostly Auto settings and played only with light and focus options.  Most of the photos from the previous post were using the new camera.  Here are some more I took while playing.

Can you tell I like Christmas cookies?

And here are some New Year’s Eve trials

I was playing with the focus which is all new to me coming from point and shoot.  The first one, above, I focused on the back glass — it looks horrible, but is a fun contrast to the second one, below, where I focused on the front glass instead.

Ahh, better.  Here are some nice evening scenes that helped me play with the ISO, even though I’m not completely sure what that is yet.  Pretty, though, right?

And now you have experienced the beginning of my journey of learning to use my new camera!  But first, I need a camera bag — any suggestions?

- Clarissa