I fished what I wanted!!!

Because of the timing of how the birthdays fall in our family, it seems to be the trend for me to not get my gift from Josh until a little bit later...usually by the 31st of October:) Last year, on Oct. 31, Josh (and Nana!) bought my Nikon D40. That was one of the best purchases...ever! I can't think of something that I use more often than my camera. It most definitely worth every penny.

This year, Josh bought me a new lens for my D40. After a suggestion made to me by my cousin, Adam (who is an incredible artist and also knows his stuff about photography..you can go to his blog HERE)...I did some research and found that I would find myself very happy with the Nikkor 35mm f1.8 lens. I shared this with my husband who "put it in his moleskin" (a little Peasant Princess for ya) and somehow, and he won't tell me how, he got his hands on one! I say 'somehow' because this particular lens is generally hard to find. If you google it, you will often find it to be sold out...because its just THAT awesome:) He gave me this gift today..which happens to be Oct. 31st again! I also got a new candle and bag of Lindt chocolate...because my husband is amazing.

So of course, I couldn't wait to pop the new lens on and give it a try. In just a few test fires I found a significant difference. The crispness and clarity are far better than my 13-55mm and the fact that I can get as low as f1.8 makes for far better low light photos. It does sense the light completely differently and it focuses a little different as well. I need some practice for sure.

Can you tell the difference? The ones of me were taken by Josh..who happens to be quite savvy with the camera as well:)

(ahhh...f1.8 bokeh is the best!)




My poor kids have been pretty sick. Jessalyn dealing with a high grade fever last night but is ok today..and then Owen who today is dealing with the fever thing himself. Here is my sicky boy..laying on the couch in a pretty dark living room.



And the next two are for comparison...again, a sicky Owen laying on the couch. I had to bump the ISO a bit for these inside dark room pictures (800).

f1.8
ISO 800
SS 1/25


Same location with the 18-55mm lens...
f5.3 (the lowest this lens would let me go)
ISO 800
SS 1/5 (which is way too slow...so with this lens I would have had to bump it to a 1600 ISO to compensate)