I declare it Spring in Rhode Island -- Finally

I've decided that Spring really is here and it's safe to replace my barren grapevine wreath with my forsythia one. After doing that it was so nice out that I grabbed my camera and took a few photos of signs of Spring in my yard. So far only crocuses are blooming, but I have daffodils popping up everywhere and buds on my Japanese Quince buses. Emma and her friend thought it was nice enough this morning to hang out lying on the grass in our yard wearing shorts -- they may be pushing it a little, but I enjoyed watching them having fun out there and Chloe, the pug dog, certainly enjoyed being outside in the yard with them. Chloe and I also enjoyed a walk through the woods in Haines Park. We have a favorite path that starts out by the dog park and goes through the woods behind our house along the creek and ends up back at the bike path right by Bay Spring. 

 

  

Now I have to get serious about cleaning up Winter's debris -- like these huge branches brought down by Blizzard Nemo. And the dead leaves in my flower beds. Bring it on -- I love working in the yard!

A Study of Pointe Shoes

I thought I'd share my photos from the last assignment for the online photography class I've been taking at Big Picture Classes with photographer Tracey Clarke. The assignment was to capture one subject six different ways using everything we've learned about "The Art of Composition". I love the look of pointe shoes so I borrowed Emma's and played around -- I borrowed her leg in one of them too. All were taken in our bedroom by the window with my Nikon 3100 DSLR and my 50 mm 1.8 lens.

On Photography, Scrapbooking and Why I am Running out of Computer Space

After driving my daughter to school in the snow this morning I took some photos for the online photography class I am taking -- it was also a useful exercise to calm down from hanging out with a sullen, yet snarky, thirteen year old on her way to school. (If you are interested the course is The Art of Composition with Tracey Clarke and Big Picture Classes -- see the link in the right sidebar). I've been experimenting with shallow depth of field using my new Nikkor 50 mm 1.8 mm lens. Above is one of my favorites. I also tried to get some photos of Chloe. Black dogs really stand out in the snow. She's not very cooperative though -- and is always moving and when I get down on her level to photograph her she comes over to me and I miss the shot.

Actually what I really need is computer advice. I am getting to the point where I have a lot of photos and a lot of digital scrapbooking supplies, and pages in progress on my hard drive and it is pretty much maxed out. I'm doing more with my photography too so those files are much larger than they used to be -- now that I have a DSLR.

So, when is it time to get a new computer? 

I've been using my Dell inspiron 1525 for almost exactly four years now and I am just about out of space on the hard drive.  My husband thinks I should just get an external hard drive and move all of my photos and digital scrapbooking supplies over to it. I've got two issues with this:

1.) I'd have to carry the external hard drive around with the laptop anywhere I wanted to work on photo editing or scrapbook pages and that seems like a pain to me.
2.) I am not sure how reliable external hard drives are -- it would definitely have to be backed up at least to my Mozy online account. And how would that work -- it would have to be connected to the laptop for it to auto backup as it does now. My last external just stopped working with no notice at all.

Of course what I'd really like is a MacBook Pro and a 27 inch monitor to use with it at my desk for photo editing and scrapbooking. Sure, dream on Beth -- that would cost us about $3000. I know because I've checked -- over and over and over again. I can't get the number to go any lower. I could forget about the big screen and just get the laptop and save $999 but that's still not much better.

Or I could just get a new PC with more memory and give up my whole Mac/Apple dream. I must say my Dell has served me really well and continues to do so except for the little space issue.

I'd love some advice from fellow photographers and digital scrapbookers. How do you handle this?

Also I need some of you to tell me why I should pay all that extra money for a Mac vs. a PC. 

Thanks All!