See, the good side of participating in photo contests? Occasionally, you win.
That’s what happened to me a little while ago. I won the 2010 ESAI Photography Competition. Not only I was flattered, but the prize was really sweet—a $350 gift card from Henry’s, a Canadian camera store.
I became a woman with a mission. I spent hours browsing the website, looking for the perfect gift for myself. Feng suggested I buy a new camera body but I like my Nikon D60 and I didn’t see the point in upgrading. I was in the market for lenses, these expensive little pieces of glass that can make or break a picture.
Eventually, Gail gave me great advice when she suggested I buy a used lens. I didn’t even know Henry’s had a used department! I went for the NIKKOR 85mm f/3.5G ED VR, fortunately less expensive used than new. It came in perfect condition, I honestly can’t tell the difference.
The annual Ottawa Tulip Festival was a great way to test the lens’ ability to take extreme close-up pictures. I also love the strong focus and depth of field that produces beautiful bokeh.
It had been a great week: sunny, beautiful weather, steady 20°C. Good thing I made it to Dow’s Lake before the weekend too, it has been raining non-stop since Friday evening.
A lot of tulips hadn’t bloomed yet because of the unusually cold weather in April, but the flower beds were lovely regardless. I can’t tell you how great it feels to finally see some green after months in the snow!
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It looks great! I never been to Ottawa during the tulips festival 🙁
You should one day, it’s pretty cool. 🙂 Well, when the weather is nice, at least.
Yay for used! The lens makes the difference, in my opinion, although to see the results more clearly it takes a print (versus web) to see it.
The great thing about macro is you can go abstract if you want, something you can’t do as well with a non-macro lens.
Happy shooting!
I’m going to print some pictures tonight 🙂
Macro is fascinating, I’m still amazed by the quality of that lens. Great depth of field, great bokeh… I’m going to have fun! Thank you again for your advice 🙂
Awesome pictures Zhu… as usual!
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
Congrats on your win for your stunning photo! Lovely shots of the tulips too! And a cool choice, lens verses camera! Yes I would have done the same thing!
Thank you! The choice just made sense to me.
Salut Zhu,
What a wonderful prize that you received! Congrats 🙂
You are right, if you can get a lens that is used but in very good condition, why not.
I love the results.Gorgeous forms & colors!!
Last month, D & I did an “investment”; we bought a news lens. A Sigma 18-200 mm. We are practicing too and I love it.The lens that came with the original Nikon body(a D50),was not working well anywmore.
Bises.
Oh, 18-200 mm is cool, it’s great you have such a large range! I have a 18-55 and a 55-200 and I sometimes find it annoying to have to switch lens to capture different perspectives.
Zhu, congrats on your win, what a wonderful prize and well deserved. Your photos are simply gorgeous, I especially like the ones where some of the flowers are in focus and some are not.
Thank you! I love experimenting with depth of field and focus 🙂
Wow those pictures of flowers at a very close range are really very pretty! Too bad they’re not in full bloom yet because of the weather, me and my friends really think that Nature is one month late this year…
They must have bloomed by now with all the rain we got recently! I’ll try to go back this WE.
Congrats on your contest! What a great honor and a perfect gift! That was why you mentioned it earlier that you were about to get another lens? I like the depth of field as well~
Yes, that’s what I was talking about. I love that lens! I was lucky 🙂
Awesome pictures! I liked all of them
Thank you! We all need pretty things in our life 🙂
Bravo!!!
Merci 🙂
Beautiful pictures!! That’s the weekend I was supposed to be in Ottawa, right? I stayed back and waited to get raptured I guess. I have to clean my camera, I change the lenses too often and there might be tons of dust in there. I discovered the depth of field concept only recently, now I like to use the telephoto lens more often.