x20

So I bought the Fujifilm x20 for my trip!! So far I love it, for a point and shoot. It focuses fast, it has manual zoom, and the files aren't too shabby. Today was spent practicing packing for my trip and playing with the camera, basically.

Look at the color! These are all edited with VSCO for Fuji, but still, the color out of the camera is pretty great. Here's a comparison between unedited and edited... not much difference and it looks beautiful!

The autofocus really is great. It caught onto this little flower at 85mm zoom at the first try. And even when it gets it wrong, it's not frustrating because there is no wait time for refocusing. I'm impressed. 

Bokeh!

Perhaps because I learned to shoot on a P&S, handling this little baby feels natural. The landscape images don't have the best detail ever, but that's only when you zoom in really close on the image. It does a good job with color and exposure anyway. The settings are easy to navigate and change. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it!

What do you think? Do we think there is a quality drop from my regular images? The 1D Mark II isn't much better in terms of sensor and pixels anyway, so I feel like the biggest difference is the lower quality glass the Fuji is working with. But still. Considering. I'm impressed.

21st

I turned twenty-one on May 6th. I spent the day taking a break from school and lazing about, which was lovely (I can hear a bunch of people groaning in protest for the lack of rampant drinking!). However, I wanted to have a sort of fancy party with my best friends and family, so I moved the party date to the middle of the month. After a lot of planning, we pulled it off! It went perfectly... :) Thanks so much for everyone's help and company.

I took some random prep photos! Logan took all the people pictures, so it looks as though no one came to my party... they totally did... real live people, too!

Homemade croutons for the caesar salad...

Cook's Illustrated Lemon Tart with Blueberries

New Chaco's! So excited!! 

The menu consisted of short ribs, roasted rosemary and garlic potatoes, sautéed green beans and a Caesar salad, for those of you who were curious!

My camera couldn't cope with the darkness from here on out. It was late when we sat down to eat and the candles and porch lights looked amazing. The night was so lovely! Someday Logan will post the rest of the pictures, but as for now... check out my presentssss:

Epic tiger painting from Logan. Adorable little charms from Japan from Griffin. And a fantastic travel bag from Sara for my trip.

This is my trip basket. Full of trip things. Gahhhhhh!! It's getting closer and closer to departure day... 

I'll try to update again soon.

- c.