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djbonner
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Name: David
Country: United States
State: Indiana
Metro: Indianapolis
Birthday: 10/26/1976
Gender: Male
Interests: Cooking, airplane rides, watching ripples in the water, going fast, silence, people watching, playful otters, British accents, a good story, close friends, real music, making a kid smile, holding my breath underwater, retro technology, the many shades of blue, original thought, root beer floats, untouched nature.
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Entertainment
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  davidbonner1026
ICQ:  22864412
Member Since:
7/1/2004
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| Looks like Xanga has gone the way of every other fad. I don't even bother posting regularly. It was an interesting phenomenon for the past four years since my first post in July of 2004. Back then I asked, "why am I doing this". I must ask again, "why am I not doing this anymore?" Maybe I'm getting too old to enjoy this sort of thing, or maybe it's just no fun when no one you know does it anymore.
I tried myspace. It was filled with filthy trash, so I didn't stay.
I tried facebook. I liked it for a while, but then it opened up, and now I'm getting spammed with ten-dozen new plug-ins. Honestly, who has time to sit around poking their friends? Why would I want to join 10,000 other people just to be in the biggest facebook group? Why would I want to respond to the 154 random requests thats only purpose is to invite all your other friends to try it? I guess I don't.
So where does that leave my online life? Maybe it's time to explore the real world for once. Xanga served its purpose. I have the past four years of my life written down in detail. I've developed the philosophies that I live by now. Maybe I'm a different person that I was when I started all this.
I think I'll keep my account active just because.
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| Gosh, has it really been that long? My last post was last year - in December. 2008 is 1/4 over. It took me a while to figure out how to make a new post. So much has changed. Why are they making Xanga look like Facebook now?
In the news:
First, my Nikon D50 Digital SLR camera is officially for sale. I finally upgraded to a Nikon D300. A bit on the pricey side, but with some wedding jobs, school plays, and family portraits coming up, I figured I needed a true professional camera to give my shots a competitive edge. The thing weighs in at about 8 pounds and the instruction manual is an inch thick. Took me hours just to figure out how to use it. But, it was worth the price for what I do with it. All the reviews have said it's just as good as it's bigger brother (the $5000 DX3).
Why would you want to buy my D50?
- If you've never owned a true digital SLR, you don't know what you're missing. I can't use point and shoot digitals anymore. What's up with pressing the shutter release and counting to five before anything happens? With a digital SLR, you fire your shot at the same time as when you press that button. In photography, timing is everything. Everything about it is fast.
- Compared to my D300, the D50 is incredibly easy to use. Lots of features, yes, but you don't have to have a PhD in photography to figure it out.
- Control. If you're a control freak, every setting can be manually adjusted. F/stop, shutter speed, ISO setting, image quality, you get the picture. Or, you can put it in fully automatic mode. It takes great pictures all by itself. You can do some really creative stuff with manual mode.
- It's priced to sell. I originally quoted $1000 for the entire kit (see my last post in December for details about what comes with it). Last month I told a friend $850-$900. I really need to sell it soon since I have no use for it anymore. How does $750 sound? I probably paid close to $1,600 for everything new. Prices have come down quite a bit since then, but still, $750 is as low as I'm willing to go.
- Two years ago this was the pro-sumer DSLR to own. It beat out Canon and had better guts than the more expensive D70. That's why I bought it. Yes, technology has improved since then, but for the price I'm selling it at, you're getting a great deal.
- Lenses and filters. Ever tried removing the lens from your point and shoot? Can't be done. This camera fits pretty much every Nikon lens. That's dozens and dozens of them. The lens is more important than the camera itself. I went crazy and bought a bunch of filters, macro lenses, and some other cool stuff that won't fit my new camera. It's yours.
- You know I took care of it. One owner. It's in perfect condition. Still takes great pictures like it did that first day.
- Still covered by Nikon's warranty. I bought the 5 year warranty two years ago. You're covered.
- You can find detailed specs on Nikon's D50 web page.
In other news, I'm finishing my last month of a 3-month IT
contract. It sounds like they want to keep me full time, but my heart
is elsewhere, mainly in teaching. I've been away from the classroom
for three months, and I'm eager to get back to it. I'm also taking
chemistry - hopefully my last class for quite a while.
Youth
ministry is going great. The jr high praise band is once again amazing
this year. I'm blessed to have so much talent to work with. I wish I
had more time to devote to it.
This summer my mom and I are
flying to Israel to see my brother in June. We're going to spend a few
weeks touring that part of the world. Anyone been there? What should
we see?
That's about it for my life. Hopefully it won't be another 3 months.
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| Well, it's finished. I can be a real teacher now. I'm taking a sabbatical from teaching for a semester to refocus my life. I want to start my first year of teaching on the right foot, and I've been burning the candle on all five ends for the last three years. I'm far more resilient than I ever imagined possible, but that still wasn't enough to meet my personal expectations for getting through college.
By the numbers, I got a 3.4 GPA from IU and a 3.8 GPA from Purdue. Neither knew I was taking 22 credit hours, student teaching, and held several jobs in the same semester. But hey, my GPA speaks for itself. I did it. My first year of teaching a regular job, I won't know what to do with all of my free time. Also, I got 94% of the questions correct on the Praxis II test (the big state test that covers everything you ever learned in all the years of teacher college)
If anyone is compelled to send a graduation gift, I wouldn't mind a D300.
My D50 will be going up for sale soon. I've had it for exactly two years now and it's done several weddings, senior portraits, family portraits, and a lot of just-for-fun shooting. I've taken very good care of it, and it's performed flawlessly. My favorite feature, unlike most digital cameras, is that when you push the button, the shutter fires right away. I paid around $1500 for everything. Since it is two years old, I thought I'd start around $850-$950. New kits are still going for over $1000 I haven't decided for sure though. Here's everything I'll include:
- D50 body (same resolution and technology as the D70S, but with easier to use features. This was the camera to own back in 2006 for a serious amateur. Canon couldn't touch this back then.
- Nikon DX 18-55 (1:3.5-5.6) 52mm threads, ED zoom AF Nikkor lens - name brand, not a cheap immitation. Also has a clean 52mm UV filter.
- Nikon 70-300 (1:4-5.6) 62mm threads, AF Nikkor lens - again, name brand. Not their best VR lens. You should use a fast shutter speed at 300mm, but it takes awesome portraits because it has a tight depth of field. (that means that the person being photographed is crisp, but the background is blurred. Also comes with a clean 62mm UV filter
- 1GB Sandisk SD memory card (one of the faster ones)
- 512MB SD memory card (as a backup if you fill up the other one)
- Nikon Li-Ion battery (good for around 2,000 shots per charge)
- Nikon Li-Ion battery charger
- Video cable to plug in to your TV
- 52mm to 62mm adapter ring (so you can use the bigger, badder 62mm filters)
- Promaster 62mm Cross Screen 4x filter (makes a four point starburst effect for light sources - kind of cool looking for night shots)
- Promaster 62mm CIR-PL polarizer filter (can be rotated for best angle to get rid of sun glare)
- Set of Promaster 62mm close up filters (for macro shots if you like to count spots on insects). These can be combined to multiply magnification.
- +1 magnification
- +2 magnification
- +4 magnification
- 62mm - 62mm threaded coupler (for combining both lenses for extreme macro shots)
- Nikon neck strap (never used)
- I bought an extended warranty from Nikon. The camera and lenses will still be covered for at least another 1-3 years.
- Nikon padded camera bag with lots of slots. I can store all the above listed stuff plus more in this. (missing one snap out of four, but it's been fine without it, and you can probably pick one up cheap from a fabric store.
- Original manuals and boxes
- I'll even throw in a free lesson on how to use it.
- Sorry, I'm keeping my SB-600 flash (that I paid over $400 for). The camera has a built in flash that does a really good job.
Like I said, this was taken care of very well. Not a single scratch or blemish anywhere. It looks brand new. It works flawlessly. I just need something a little faster with a few more features to shoot pro with.
Here's the latest family portrait I took this month. I'm still discovering ways to take better pictures every day.
Here are a few highlights from my D50 over the past two years:
My uncle's cat.
My cousin's daughter. (I darkened the corners for effect, but you can see how the 300mm lens blurred the background nicely)
Long exposure of myself. This is a lot of fun.
Long exposure of a summer storm at night
300mm lens with fast shutter speed. I feel sorry for the 2nd bird
If you shoot raw and use a reference card, this is what you can do
This is just a standard close up filter shot of a key ring and a key.
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| Remind you of anyone you know? It's probably a good thing I didn't have Photoshop when I was younger.
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