#the number of times i've considered visiting the uk again with all the money i've saved up for my first year of grad school!!!!!

[percybitchshelley]

mango! black cherry! mocha! green tea! strawberry! peach! cotton candy!

when and why did you start your blog?

WAY BACK WHEN in ye olde 2009 i ditched good old mibba for this place, even though nothing about tumblr screamed “creative writing/fan fiction site,” BUT my friends all came here so i followed. and i’m p sure i’m the only one out of my gang who is still here on this godforsaken website l o l

four words that describe you?

right now the ones that come to mind are.. like.... Salty Girl Is Done

ideal weather conditions?

chilly with clear skies!!!! a few fluffy clouds are permissible, encouraged even

i just love simultaneously feeling cold air and sunshine on my skin, i like to have it both ways

favorite flavors of ice cream?

cookie dough is my usual go-to but i recently tried a new bluebell flavor called “bride’s cake” that’s like, almond and amaretto with little cake pieces and it was. my fave. i also really like birthday cake flavor?? basically anything with chunks of cake or dough... im sorry if that’s disgusting lmao

a language you wish you could speak?

like..... so many. i wish i spoke spanish, rather than only being able to read and write in it... i wish i could learn german, and korean, and greek.. i’d even learn latin if i ever had the energy

how do you relax?

usually under my covers, on my side, my laptop propped up sideways against my knee, watching something funny like Golden Girls. sometimes a form of dessert or pizza is involved

three places you want to travel to?

IDK if this really counts but i would give anything to be able to travel back to britain and just. chill there for a long time. i miss it a lot

but!! aside from that i’ve always wanted to visit east asia, especially japan and korea... i’d love to visit greece, or egypt, or jerusalem... i’ve always wanted to visit lithuania too bc that’s where the largest chunk of my ancestry comes from. i’d love to go pm anywhere and everywhere, though

[travelgoose]

The Nikon D5200 | My First Camera

If you read my last post, you'll know that calling this my "first" camera shouldn't be taken literally. But it is true that this was my first camera that I considered a "real" camera, one that I could truly customize and a tool I could use to learn about photography. Let's talk about what I learned..

Shooting in manual mode. If you look up photography basics or try to take any online course on the subject, you will be encouraged to shoot in manual mode. The whole point of owning a camera like this is to have the ability to customize the aperture, the shutter speed, and the ISO. I was excited about this because I wanted to learn the craft. My first outing, a waterfall road trip in western North Carolina, gave me this opportunity. I was hooked as I started to learn all about my new camera.

| Outside the McKinley Edwards Inn (Bryson City, NC)

The next time using my camera was on our trip to England. I loved having a camera to take high quality pictures, but unfortunately, shooting in manual mode while we're on a trip is anything but realistic. We move around quickly and don't build time into our itinerary for me to stop and devote time to getting perfect shots. "Run and gun" is very much the style I adopt when we're traveling, which means I have to keep the camera in automatic mode to keep up with our pace.

| View from The Eye (London, UK)

Sadly, it wasn't until last year that I truly picked up the camera again and practiced at manual mode. I figured with practice, I would be able to figure out my settings more quickly. Look at a scene, a subject, a lighting and be able to work out in my head approximately what numbers I would need.. as opposed to just spinning dials until a picture looked good on my screen. I've been practicing since that time, and have gotten to the point where I primarily shoot in manual mode, occasionally switching to aperture priority if I'm really pressed for time.

| Sotterley Plantation (Hollywood, MD)

Dealing with APS-C. Remember how I said I researched cameras prior to purchasing? Somehow I did that without once comparing sensor sizes, or even learning about different sensor sizes. For this reason, when I got an APS-C camera and, on recommendation, got a 35mm prime lens, I was confused. This lens had been referred to as a "wide angle" option, and many people online said this was there daily go-to lens for everything. I tried this for a day on our England trip, when we were visiting Oxford.

| Walking around campus (Oxford, UK)

I only used my 35mm lens while walking the streets of the university, and time and time again, I found myself running into the same problem. The lens was just too zoomed in. I loved the speed of the lens, but there were many shots I couldn't get simply because of how tight the lens would make my point of view. Although I loved the lens, I found myself switching to my kit lens more and more often simply to utilize the wider focal range of 18mm. Although this would allow me to get the shot, the quality of my shots was not as sharp as what I could get out of my prime, and I missed the wider aperture.

| Waddesdon Manor (Aylsebury, UK)

I later discovered that APS-C cameras come with a 1.5x focal length magnification, so people referring to 35mm as wide angle were not incorrect. The actual focal length I was getting with my lens was closer to 52mm, which is what most people would consider a good length for portraits, as opposed to street photography or landscapes.

Video quality. I didn't know this at the time, but what I've come to discover is that I enjoy taking videos on vacations just as much as I enjoy taking pictures. The age of the camera is certainly somewhat to blame, but the video quality on the D5200 is poor, especially compared to modern cameras. The camera's autofocus is primarily what brings the video quality down. The sluggishness of the autofocus is hardly noticeable when taking pictures, but when taking video, it's on a level that it ruins the experience. If the camera is set to continuously autofocus, anytime the camera shifts or moves, the camera defocuses for a second, then refocuses. I didn't realize it was doing this when I first bought the camera and only found out when we got home from England, and all of my footage was unusable.

So after four years, it's time for a new camera. I had the decision to either buy a nicer lens for my Nikon or spend my money by investing in a newer camera, one with improved video. And with this new camera, I can be smarter in my lens selection now that I know my needs better. My next post will be about my hunt for a new camera...