Flashy Fun!

This girl just wants to have fun...flashy fun, that is!

I've been itching to use my new set of flash filters. My friend Isabelle (who's been learning about photography on her own, through books, the Internet, trial and error...and her film producer/photographer/all-around-artist significant other) had picked my name out of the Secret Santa hat.

Aside from being an amazing gift-giver and knowing exactly how to surprise me with just the right thing (an ovo-lacto vegetarian cookbook she put together!), she shares a passion for photography and therefore, an interest in equipment.

LEE Flash Filters Designer Edition

Isabelle is my environmentally conscious artsy friend and she's always aware of being green and frugal. Gotta love her for her brilliant project ideas. She knew I could use tools to continue learning...but what could she afford?

My friend surprised me with the Designer Edition of LEE Filters. Naturally, I need to use them on my pop-up flash but there are sure to be hours of fun. They'll change the hue of my photos, which will ad a dash of mystery and a small challenge. Once I've found the effect(s) I prefer, I can actually go and purchase a larger filter, as the Designer Edition has the Numeric listing. Truly, a brilliant gift idea for the amateur or beginner photographer. I'm only starting to use flash... available light, fill flash, flash with motion, only flash, flash as sole source of light... Harry Nowell has a great blog post about how to break down flash use.

I know, I'm really excited about trying them out.

And so, I lied a little bit about only spending mellow time at home over the holidays... Sure, there will be plenty of days on the couch, soaking up Ray Bradbury tales and reading theories of Simon Brault's No Culture, No Future. Sure, I'll cook a veggie frittata. But Caleb (my Nikon D3000) will be close by, just winking at me, waiting to get into mischief and snap a few moments in time.