can anyone recommend me some new camera gear?

My dslr is going to be 2 years old on Dec. 26. Last year I bought it a 50mm lens to keep it company. I was thinking maybe a new friend might be nice.

Unlike last year, I’m really not sure what I want to try though. I was thinking of looking around for maybe a nice flash, since lighting equipment seems a bit frivolous at this point considering I don’t have a definite space I shoot in. The Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash seems pretty radtacular, albeit a slight bit pricey for my poor ass…

Aside from my 18-55mm and 50mm I’ve only tried a couple 70-200mm lenses and I don't feel that I’d need them for my own work. I only use them for action/sports photography at work and it’s not really my thing personal work wise.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! I’d put them on my christmas list, but I know it’s not something the fam would go for, and I like to work towards/make my own big purchases myself. Plus it’ll give me something to research! =D

Thanks pals~

14/52

falling without knowing, originally uploaded by avalilly.

So, I'm a bit behind on my 52 weeks project. I should be able to catch up over the next week though.

I think this is my favourite one of the project so far. I've never tried anything like this before, so I'm happy that it [eventually] turned out! It was frustrating to shoot, but the photos are pretty neat.

There's something wrong with the autofocus on my camera I think. Both my 18-55 and 50mm seem to have trouble focusing, especially on something as simple as a figure infront of a plain background. I had to get a friend to stand in for me so I could manual focus on them and then I just tried to stay in one spot for the rest of this shoot.

Hopefully, it's just in a bad mood...

the beginning 1/52

the beginning, originally uploaded by avalilly.

Hello everyone! Happy New Year to you~

So I made the impulsive decision to start a 52 weeks project as a new year's resolution. I really don't feel I'm ready to commit to the 365 project, where you do a portrait everyday for a year, so I'll just be doing one per week instead. It's not unreasonable for me, plus I have a lot of ideas I'd like to try anyways, so this should be a good thing!

The image above is my first of the series. Click it to follow the link to my Flickr and there'll be more info there.

2010 brings some new funsies I'll be able to try out on the photography front: I bought myself a new lens! I got the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 (would have rathered the f1.4, but it was too expensive, unfortunately). Very excited to try that out with portraits. My uncle also got me an Opteka 5-in-1 reflector! I may actually start needing an assistant of sorts.

Anywho, I'm hoping this project will unfold nicely and I learn lots along the way. We'll see if I'm actually able to keep up with it...

starstruck

Yesterday, I helped out my friend on a film. She was in charge of make-up and needed someone to help do hair. It was quite a bit of fun, actually. Normally I help with the art direction and set dec, but I got to curl a bunch of hair and style it so it could atleast pass for the 1930's which is probably one of my favourite style eras, so I enjoyed it muchly.

Some snaps:

You can find more in my starstruck set on Flickr!

I'm looking into getting an EF 50mm f/1.8 lens. Found one on amazon for pretty cheap, so I may just have to pick one up. From what I've seen, it takes beautiful photos of people and is a generally great lens for multipurpose photography. Shame it feels so flimsy though. Ah well, it's not like I can afford anything too fancy! Yet, anyways. ;)