Let us know what camera you get!

Great pictures Vicky - loving the new look on all your media stuff! I checked out Daley's blog after you mentioned him in a previous post - he is awesome! Makes me wish even more that I lived in the States!!

great shots. just what a musician needs. more gear to lug around. So i'd recommend something small.

Wow, Vicky; those are some really great shots, and I love the new look here on your blog! I'm sure you'll have plenty of other good uses for those pics as well, and I'm glad you had such a good time with Daley taking them! I think that's one of the marks of a great photographer - not only do the photos turn out well, but everybody has a blast making them.

As to photography advice, a great place to dig in a bit is the Digital Photography Review - DPReview.com. The forum community there has always been very knowledgeable and glad to help with particular questions (if a search of the forum doesn't turn up an answer), and the front page is a great source of photography news.

Of course lighting is a huge part of photography, and one of the most helpful sites I've come across on lighting is a really great blog called Strobist:

strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

...and be sure to look for the Lighting 101 and Lighting 102 archives if you're wanting to study up.

Nikon is just coming out with the D90 - a great little DSLR that has pretty much the same sensor as the D300 and also shoots video (first in its class to do this). I'll probably end up getting one at some point as a second camera for events. It can be purchased in a kit with a nice 18-105mm lense (for about $1,200), or body only for about 1,000 USD. On the other hand, others who've advised here not to spend much money on a body - unless you plan to spend a lot of time shooting to make the severe depreciation worth it - are wise. The same goes for the Nikon vs Canon comments so far. I picked up a D40 a few months back for use as a second camera, and it comes with a "starter" lense for about 500 USD.

One lense I've really enjoyed working with is Nikon's 18-200. In one lense, you have everything from wide angle to telephoto which avoids having to carry multiple lenses around and switch them back and forth and possibly getting dust inside your camera body. There are plenty of other specialized lenses, but this one is a great start for general use and as a "walk about" lense. It used to be impossible to get your hands on one of these - they were selling like hot-cakes for quite a while after they first came out, but now you can get one from a reputable dealer (check pricescan.com) for about 750 USD including shipping (and I think Abe's of Maine is good as well and they sell it for 655 shipped).

Rock N Frikin' Roll.

AMAZING!!!
I mean, wow...these are spectacular! Looks like you guys had a blast. How was Roy? He texted and said it's been fun getting to know Daley.

I was with the guys from Bedouins Int'l who actually know Daley, too...and I got a photoshoot out of the weekend, too.
Funny that we had that going on at the same time.

ok, I'm in the middle of VJ-ing and we're about to do another song (the invitation is going on right now...shhhh)

~ proctor

AMAZING shots! I see on your myspace that you will be in Gander Newfoundland..you will LOVE the Newfie's..they are the friendliest province in Canada:) (I'm a bit biased as my dad is from Newfoundland but lives in Ontario now-just outside Toronto) I hope you do get to experience their culture and music!God Bless..hope to be at your show in Brampton! Karyne

daley hake is the biggest rock star of all times.

Hi Screech, good to see you've finally joined that Black Sabbath tribute band! Can we expect worship in the key of 'ROCK!!!' from here on in!! Go on, you know want to...just for me! ;-)

Love them.I am so sad you and Daley will not be in town when we are... Hope to see you soon. H

The pictures look good. Taking pics is always fun... I think you should smile more! :D

Looks like tons of fun!

Sorry, a followup to my rule #1 is, if your friends like you, ask to borrow their lenses before you buy more. It's hard to explain the value of why you'd need a certain lens (and pay the hefty $$$), whereas if you just use it for a few days, it's obvious.

1. Ask all your serious photographer friends: do you use a Canon or a Nikon. Go with whichever vendor that most of your fiends have. (There are strong religious arguments on each side, but in the end if people are honest, for 99.9995% of the population it really doesn't matter which.) This is so you can get advice and help easily.

2. Get the cheapest dSLR that vendor makes. Nikon: D60; Canon: EOS 1000D (aka EOS Rebel XS). It is perfectly suitable for your needs, and will improve every 2-3 years, and can reduce in price by 30% with each improvement

3. Save all your money for lenses and/or external flash. Lenses basically last forever, and do not really depreciate meaningfully. The camera itself will basically lose half its value every 2 years.

4. Shoot a lot. Basically all the time. And spend time looking at Flickr's "interesting" photos whenever you are bored: http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ That's the best way to get a good "eye" for light and composition.

Have fun!

Nice shots Vicky!

I got into photography about this time last year and it has quickly become my favourite hobby. I'd recommend a Nikon D60, or D40 if you're on a budget. Some may tell you to get Canon. Either or should be fine, but I'm a Nikon guy.

I hate to plug my own stuff, but I wrote a handy (albeit long) introduction to photography on my blog. It gives a good run-down of most of the technicals to get you started.

http://michaelmistretta.com/2008/introduction-t...

oh and i forgot to say: great pictures!!
Daley did an excellent job! I checked out his blog earlier and I love the way he uses light.

Hey Vicks,

first off, don't put your HighRes shots on here. Don't give them away so easily. Just be carefull and resize them. Besides that'll make this page load much faster ;)

I've been a freelance photographer for some years. Did some weddingphotography and bandshoots and whatever came my way.

I'd recommend a Canon Eos 1000D or a 450D if you're a starter. It has a good kitlense (18-55mm) included as well. You might wanna opt for a Canon 50mm 1.8 lense (or 1.4 but it'll kost you 3 times more) which is great for making portrait shots and is around $80-90.

But that's just advice from a Canon-lover, Nikon is just as good as well :)