:::i just want a fancy camera strap:::

a long time ago my sister asked my in a comment if i had changed my blog banner. the answer is no, it's the same old banner as before, and i probably won't change it for a long, long time because it was such a pain to put it together. such a tedious, tedious process of much trial and error. heavy on the error.

more recently emily asked what kind of camera i use. i've had this bad boy --

a canon a530 powershot -- for a few years now.

here's the deal.

if you haven't been able to tell already, i'm not blessed with a fancy camera or any kind of editing software (beyond the wonderful and free picassa*). i made my blog banner in paint. yes, paint. the program we all loved to doodle in as kids, but now find little use for as adults. at least, that's what i used to think. i use paint frequently now, mostly at work, and mainly to copy and paste screen captures from videos, or from websites that don't allow you to right click and save images. at home i just use picassa since it now automatically saves screen captures for you if you keep the program open on your desktop.

paint is also useful if you need to turn something into a jpeg. just copy the image or text and paste it into paint, then when you 'save as', pick 'jpeg' as the document type. that's how i eventually uploaded my blog banner since, at the time, you couldn't control the collage settings in picassa (and you still don't have much control). piece by piece i copied and resized photos into a paint document until i had something i liked.

that's the way i blog these days. piece by piece trying to find innovative ways around those blasted road blocks in front of me.

not having the right tools to produce the creations you dream up is agony. there are days here and there when i feel completely frustrated by the limited capabilities of my point-and-shoot camera and my freebie editing software. at so many points in the documentation process i feel at least partially defeated because the end product nearly always falls short of what i had in mind.

i would love to have an slr and edit my photos in a nice editing program, but making those purchases would be a ridiculous thing for me to do at this time. before i can commit to those items, a new computer is desperately needed -- one without a cracked screen, a broken cd/dvd reader, and that allows you to download or run almost anything from the internet. i also have to spend money on the things that are necessary for regular life, and the small projects that i make so that i can decorate my room and add to the growing sense of home i feel when i walk through my door everday. so many things that come before a nice camera and computer programs.

i think i could be a better photographer if i had a better camera, and maybe i could make those photos look better if i had and could learn to use some editing software. but, for now, i'm happy with what i have. as time goes by i learn more and more about my camera, and i think my photos are improving because of it. not to sound cheesy, but i'm proud of the progress i've made in spite of my equipment limitations.

and hey, what i've got is already paid for.





*and i just downloaded gimp (a free editing program that is purported to have many of photoshop capabilities), but haven't used it yet.