My last photography post of the year!
I haven’t used the Nikon this week — as you might relate, it’s been a busy week. Most of what we’ve been doing has been inside or outside at night, and it’s been more important to me to have decent photos than to practice with the flash and such, so photos this week are from the phone.
But Santa was good to me in the photography department! I got a tripod, an external flash, and a (giant) camera fanny pack.
Let me explain the fanny pack.
There are many many places around here to go hiking, and even more if we’re willing to drive an hour or so. Bringing a camera is a little dicey for a few reasons.
First, the bag the camera came in is a shoulder bag. The bag I bought to be able to carry the camera inside my backpack is a shoulder bag. Neither of these is good for my posture, and because I so rarely carry shoulder bags that aren’t crossover, I have trouble keeping them on my shoulder.
For walking and easy hiking, this is slightly annoying but I can work with it. But for harder hiking or scrambling, it’s no good at all. A camera-carrying backpack would solve this problem, but then we come to Issue Number Two.
In a few short months for a few long months, it’s going to be hot. Really hot. In summer, we don’t even go for a short hike (or walk or run or anything outside) without water.
I have a very nice Camelbak-type backpack that carries a few liters of water. But I’m not going to stash my camera next to a bag full of water.
I can’t wear a camera backpack and the Camelbak, and both are bulky enough that trying to wear one on front and one on back would be extremely uncomfortable at best (and also incredibly hot!).
And so The Climbing Daddy Santa found me a fanny pack. It’s big, as it will accommodate the body of the camera and several lenses and other accessories, but it straps on around my waist or hips, and it will work with the Camelbak. If I’m not wearing water, I can swing this thing around to the back for easier moving.
I haven’t gone out with it yet, but I am excited and hopeful that it’s exactly what I was looking for.
All that said, here are a few photos from this week.
First, our most recent addition to the Christmas decorations:
We started a tradition last year of our gifts being wrapped and dressed like snowmen. Here are this year’s:
The Kid got me an extra book, wrapped it in the same white paper, and made it to be carolers in front of the snowmen:
We had the stockings hanging from wall sconces, but that wasn’t going to work when they were full (we fill them with fruit), so climbing gear came in handy…
The Kid and his new Nintendo Switch (in dinosaur pajamas, of course!)
Finally, we took a short wander around downtown Chandler, where this was one of our stops. (I didn’t take this photo, obviously…) I’m hoping/planning to go back down there one evening with my tripod and see what I can do with settings to get some nice photos of the lights in the dark.
