As an amateur photographer, you always try to emulate what you see in the photography books from the majors. Or, sometimes you just get luck when your camera is set to auto. This is the first picture I took with my new camera, sitting in the Costco parking lot. My girlfriend, Rebecca, was having a good conversation, paying no attention to my fussing around with my new toy. So this really is a candid shot, not staged or paid for by Verizon. I think it’s a pretty decent shot for my first picture as an amateur. But I may be a little biased.

Speaking of the new camera, it’s a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. Despite the recommendations I found on Amazon and other places, I decided to go ahead and buy a kit, rather than just the body and piece it all together. Costco is so good at sucking you into bundles, that I let myself be guided along by the big red and white Canon box. It seems like a sweet enough deal to me - you get the camera, the standard kit lens that you find everywhere else, a telephoto lens, 1GB memory card, camera bag, instructional DVD (no idea about that, maybe I’ll blog about it when I finally watch it), UV filter, and a bunch of software (probably lite versions I’ll never use). It’s not a big discount or anything, but it’s a good starter kit. All for around $949.00, which is probably more than if you take the time to shop around and piece it together, but I’m one of those people who would rather pay a little extra to get it now.

I love the camera though - now that I’m getting back into photography, it’s the perfect impetus to keep me going. Turning the mode dial to auto guarantees that you’ll almost always shoot a good looking picture. And when you start getting into what Canon calls the “Creative Zone”, then you’ve REALLY got options. That’s where I’ve been spending most of my time. Trying to take pictures in Program mode without the flash, and using the other modes to play with aperture and shutter speed. From what I’ve read, the lenses I’ve got aren’t the best, but they work well enough for me starting out that I can take decent pictures and really learn the art.

I just received some extra accessories for the camera as well - a mini-tripod, wireless remote, new 4GB CompactFlash card, and a spare battery (trying out an off brand, we’ll see how it works). Amazon has been great for rounding up all the little extras that I’ll need to support my addiction/hobby.

My god, I can’t believe I’m writing a third post already. This blogging thing is really catching on. What’ll I do next, start a flickr account? Oh wait…done already.

I updated my about page too. Figured that’s probably with a higher priority since it was just sitting there with template text all over the place. That’s as bad as buying one of those picture frames with multiple places to put your pictures and filling up all but one spot, leaving somebody else’s baby/dog/brother sitting there grinning on your wall like there’s some kind of inside joke in the room that nobody knows about but them. But of course your friends come over and ask you who that dog/cat/squirrel on the wall is and why they’ve never met them. Then you explain that it’s not your picture of a dog, just the one that target bought from some poor asian guy on the street for a $2.50 exclusive license. Then you realize that it’s not a picture of a dog at all, but actually a baby, and you and your friends really feel like jackasses now, all because you didn’t bother to take more pictures and fill in all the picture frames. Lessons from this adventure? Don’t buy those multi-frames from Target. But I digress.

Here’s what I put up on the about page, in case you never click on about pages and actually want to know what I’m all about:

My name is Chris Carter. I work for Confluent Data Systems, Inc, a small software and consulting company based in Wenatchee, WA. I serve as the CTO. I’m also a founder of the company.

We started Love Washington Wine, an e-commerce and marketing company focused on increasing and selling the Washington Wine brand. Love Washington Wine sells a variety of labels from many incredible boutique wineries in Washington State.

We’re also helping to develop US West Energy Solutions, a green energy product distribution company, including the Hallowell Heat Pump, Proliphix Web Enabled Thermostat, and Energy Tracking Web Enabled Meter.

I’m interested in all technology, science, wine, photography, politics, and life. I’ll probably blog about most of those topics.

“Sweet merciful jesus, he’s posting another cat picture. Is that all this is going to be, a cat blog?”

Well, no. But unfortunately the only decent “artful” pictures I’ve taken are of a couple cats I happen to see on a regular basis. So here you go, another cat picture!

It’s Sampson, under a coffee table. Taken with Canon Digital Rebel XTi with the kit lens (ISO 400, at 55mm, f/5.6, 1/60). Modified slightly in Lightroom with the Punch preset.

Most blogs start with a first post. So here it is. First. Primero. Zuerst. I guess you’ve got to start somewhere. These posts usually consist of the blogger excitedly talking about the future of their blog, expounding on how the visitor should check back soon for the next great article they’re going to write. Most bloggers write that next article, then maybe a few more. These articles center on the awesome shark they caught fishing, or their incredible skydiving experience, topping out with a magnificent lemon merengue pie they tried at some obscure bakery in a place you don’t live. Pretty exciting stuff!

Well, I vowed to myself that I’m not going to do that.

My name is Chris. I work for a small company in Wenatchee, WA called Confluent Data Systems. I’m the Chief Technology Officer there. I don’t fish for sharks, I’ve never jumped out of a plane, and to be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of lemon merengue (I had to look up the spelling on Google). I do take pictures though - I’m finally getting back into photography. I haven’t touched it really since high school, but I love it. It’s a great hobby, and I’d love to sell my prints some day for enough money to finance my travels.

There you go. Here’s a picture of a cat that I took. I’m so non-conformist when it comes to blogging that this isn’t even MY cat.