Sunflowers and Cameras

A local restaurant, the Inn Between, has a sunflower maze this year.  Although we missed the peak of the blooming (should have gone last weekend), a stroll through the maze today was still lovely.  Adding to the charm of the experience is that the Inn also has a whole bunch of bee hives, so all those lovely yellow sunflowers were filled with lovely yellow bees, including their honey bees, but also every other variety of bee you can think of that would be attracted to flowers.  Thought I'd share some shots.

Sunflowers are so photogenic.

The flowers were remarkably hard to photograph against the bright sky, so this was actually an excellent opportunity for me to play with some of the settings on my camera.  The lighting was highly variable, too, because a thunder storm was rolling in with lots of dark clouds.  I had mixed results, but a few things worked pretty well.  I love learning new things about this camera, and it's hard to believe that after this long I'm still learning about it constantly.

Okay.  That's enough of those.  I can only post so many shots of sunflowers before losing everyone's interest.

Did I mention that I am, yet again, hankering after a new camera?  Yes, I have officially found quite a number of situations where I am irritated with the limitations of my Nikon D70.  I bought it used last year, and can resell it for the exact same amount I bought it for through my favorite camera store.  That would make it like a free year-long camera loan, right?  (I can almost hear my best girlfriend laughing at me as she reads this... she's always told me "Holly, you can justify anything."  She's right - it's a particular talent of mine.)

Anywho, I do love this camera, and therefore am going to stick with Nikon and just move up their line a step or two.  Next I think will be a D90.  I want more megapixels (twice as many), more focal points, and a few other features that should make a big difference.  The same limitations of the D70 keep bothering me again and again, and it turns out that they are exactly the things the D90 improves upon.  Mind you, what I really want is a Nikon D700 (can you say "full frame"?  It makes my mouth water just to think about).  But holy Hannah, I'm a long way from being able to afford it.  So, if my camera guru can get in the 1 year old used D90 that she thinks is coming in, I think I'm going to snap it up.

Of course, that means I have to put off buying a mountain bike a little longer.  My husband is on the fence, as am I, about whether the bike or the camera should be a bigger priority.  Our friend M, who is also our trainer, just gives me one of his exasperated looks when I mention the camera, as he's rooting for the bike so I can join him and my husband on their rides.  Our other friend D is rooting for the camera.  That puts the votes thus far at an even tally, which isn't helping me decide.  I am accepting additional votes...