[Recipe] When Life Gives You...

Lemons...Make iced tea!

Summer. I love summer. I feel at the top of my game at this time of year. As a lover of natural light in my photos, you can understand why.

I want to share with you an iced tea recipe I made last night. I searched and searched over the web for a iced tea recipe which had papaya nectar and could not find one for the life of me! So I made one of my own. Delicious!

Papaya Nectar Iced Tea -

• 4 tea bags (Lipton's is what I used...Just a plain tea)
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar
  
• 2 cups papaya nectar
• 1 lemon, sliced
  

Boil 4 cups of water & pour the boiling water over the tea bags. Let brew for 3-5 minutes (depending on how strong you like your tea). There are many ways to brew tea, this is just how I always did it. Add the agave nectar. You might want more or less, depending on how sweet you like your iced tea. Pour the tea over ice or let chill in the refrigerator. When chilled, add the papaya nectar and sliced lemons. Serve.

I used agave nectar because I recently bought some for a salmon dish and wanted to try other uses for it. A lot of people debate over whether or not it is healthful, especially compared to sugar or other sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup. Read about both sides of the debate here and here.

I REALLY love fruit flavored teas...And I knew papaya iced tea would be delicious.

If anyone has other ideas, let me know!

PS I have a 30-day photo project going on over on Flickr. Check it out!

Rebel Work!

As stated earlier, here is my work so far with my Canon T1i Rebel [with kits lens EF-S 18-55mm IS] that I purchased in November 2009. I am getting down the basics of shooting - keeping in mind the things I've learned so far [aperture, exposure, focal length, etc] - and making sure I incorporate all those things together at the right settings in each photo. In the past week or so, I've been shooting fully on the "manual" setting, so that I HAVE to keep everything in mind. It's difficult for sure! Any tips are much appreciated!

Here are a FEW of my fave shots so far...Ordered by date taken:

Learning. Evolving. Adapting. Growing.

A little background: I will be the first to note I am a beginner in photography. I just purchased my first DSLR [which I am still making credit card payments on!] back in November 2009. I had my daughter back in August 2009. Until recently, I hadn't had much time to explore the DSLR world...needless to say [I find now that my daughter is older, she is more apt to take adventures with me to spots such as the park]. I had 3 1/2 point-n-shoot cameras before my SLR:

1. Canon Powershot A520 - This was my very first digital camera. It was a relatively bulky camera, as per today's standards. I purchased this back in 2005 as a sophomore in college. I was thrilled to have 4 whole megapixels. I look back on the pictures I took with this camera, and man, they are amazing [especially when you take into account my skill level and the advancement of digital cameras at the time]. I had this camera until the end of 2006, when it mysteriously stopped turning on even with fresh batteries. Here are some of my favorite shots [minimally edited] taken with this camera:

11/2. Nikon E4800 - Now let's talk about a huge ass camera. Since I was out a camera, I "borrowed" my mom's [by borrowed, I mean I took it from her house to my apartments an hour away]. This was actually a really nice camera...needless to say, she STILL uses it. This camera is practically an antique now, and I believe it should be reserved a special place in the Smithsonian, but still produces generally good quality photos. I used this until I grew tired of being made fun of for lugging around a "touristy Asian camera" and bought myself a sleek new camera. Here is the only picture I can find that demonstrates the magnitude of the camera...but even this doesn't do justice:

And here are a few *scenic* images I shot from this camera:

2. Olympus FE230 - So finally in mid-2007 I purchased my super-slim new camera. I guess I was so tired of toting the huge camera around that I went out and bought the smallest camera I could afford. This thing was about as slim as that stupid Razor cell phone I once had. However, it did not take the best photos. Maybe I just wasn't operating it right, but the colors never came out right and the focus always seemed a little bit off. Note: dropping it in the sand probably doesn't help the situation, either. I sent it back to the manufacturer and they tweeked it, which helped a little with the focusing. It also gave a blue-ish color to my brown eyes. Nonetheless, I didn't own this camera for long. About a year and a half later, a "friend" dropped it and it was toast. He never replaced it for me. I hardly took any scenic photos with this camera, but here are a few:

3. Canon Powershot SD1100 IS - This was -and is- a great camera. I still use it when I get lazy or am on the go and cannot bring my SLR. I have actually owned 2 of this exact same camera [because I lost my first one on a drunken escapade]. I guess you can say I have bad camera luck...when I was in high school I left my new expensive [film] camera in a hotel room after check-out and the housekeeper stole it. Anywho, this camera is GREAT for a PnS. It produces outstanding "Macro" photos. Amazing, crisp detail...very user friendly...even good quality in full-auto mode. The Macro setting works like a charm. I think this and my first camera is what hooked me to Canon. So now I am partial, and will probably never meander off to another brand again :) Lastly, here are a few taken with this camera:

Finally, I graduated to my DSLR. I picked up a Canon Rebel T1i [aka 500D] with it's kit lens [EF-S 18-55 mm IS]. I couldn't be happier with my decision. I haven't even read through the manual yet. But, with the help of many-a-web-tutorial and my mentors [Jeff & Rick], I have learned some valuable tools. I am SLOWLY but surely trying to master my skills with my kit lens, so perhaps one day when I have the time & money I can upgrade to a macro lens. And hopefully...eventually...a wide-angle lens. *FINGERS CROSSED*

Tomorrow, I will post some of my faves from my Rebel :)

so it begins...

i decided to throw in the towel and start a real blog. hopefully i can keep this blog up-to-date on a fairly regular basis.

in this 'digital age' of twitter, facebook, blogs, etc... it's hard to avoid falling into these black holes of time consumption that are littered all over the net. do i sit at a computer more often than i should? more than likely. do i care? probably not.

my main interest is photography & editing. i am without a doubt a beginner in both fields [if you check out my flickr link to the right, or click here you will see for yourself]. that said, i set up this blog mainly to track my progress in my various photography forays - and lend a chance for *whoever* (if anyone) to offer some suggestions.