The Amazing Lulu

©2010 Jaimee Todd

As promised, I went and got a new DSLR camera last week. As I previously mentioned, I’ve been dying to get a new one ever since I went to Montauk and have been shopping around for one. As luck would have it, J&R had a fabulous sale last week and much to my delight I was able to bring home my new camera, Lulu. Oh yes, so you know, I named my camera Lulu; it’s not a camera brand. As you may know, I have a tendency to name what I consider to be my prized possessions as you might recall when I told you the story about my dear Santi not too long ago.

Anyway, Lulu is a Nikon D3000 DSLR camera, which is ideal for people who are looking to upgrade beyond theirdigital point-and-shoots. The advantage of these cameras is that as you develop your skills and look to expand the level of sophistication of your shots, you can do so buy simply getting a new lens. I haven’t quite gotten to that point but so far I LOVE my new baby. It’s like night and day when it comes to the quality of my shots. Instead of having to edit things with my computer to make the pictures look the way I want them to, Lulu seems to get them right the first time. This is largely due to the fact that the user can use many of the manual settings to achieve the right amount of balance when it comes to lighting, angles, aperture and such. Thankfully, my new camera comes with lots of tutorials and slide shows to teach you how to make the proper adjustments, thank God.

For my first trial run, I decided to take Lulu to Central Park to see what she could do. I packed her up in my camera case and started meandering the park with my gear. I quickly realized that doing so made me look like a tourist when, much to my horror,  some guy tried to sell me some bike-carriage tour through the park. (Just a little FYI: New Yorkers hate to be mistaken for tourists, especially if you’re a transplant like me. We’ve worked very hard to try to attain the “Real New Yorker” status).

All that aside, I had a great time photographing things with Lulu. The cool thing about photography is that it really forces you to be in the present moment and take note of everything around you. Things and places that I habitually passed by without taking much notice suddenly came alive with new possibility. I get the same feelings of calm and enjoyment that I get from painting, except it isn’t as time consuming which is really helpful with my schedule.

I especially liked working in close-up mode. For now I have been zooming in on the typical subject matter, like flowers and such but eventually I’d live to progress to being able to create perspectives of ordinary objects and places that make you feel like an everyday object has been abstracted.

Anyway, I will let Lulu speak for herself.