Photos by Phone

I was just on the phone for a long time with one of my sisters going through all my trip photos. It was really fun. I feel somewhat proud of my photos mostly because I've never been one to take a lot of pictures and I think they turned out really good. Even though I'm proud of them I don't want to force them on people cuz I certainly don't expect anyone to love them as much as I do. It's kinda like when someone shows you a slideshow of their vacation -- you weren't there so why should you care. Going through them with her was, however, a good way of telling other stories that aren't included with the photos.

I've never had a digital camera before and it has really changed the way I've thought about taking pictures. I can experiment more and just take lots of shots of things and see what works and what doesn't. I've learned a lot about my camera but realized about halfway through the trip that I should've taken my manual along. There were some difficult lighting situations where I didn't know what setting would be best. It was also hard to tell from the little screen what the photos would really look like. Some came out even better than they looked; some didn't turn out that great.

Here's one of my favorites: the gardens at Hampton Court Palace.