My early birthday gift to myself.

In the past 2 days a few things have happened. I now have a newfound appreciation for people who can take really good photographs. Granted, I've had my share of good shots from my most amaturish devices, but I realize that those images are not appealing because of the subject matter or the skill in manipulating the device's settings so as to achieve an attractive result. I't is merely a case of good directing.

I just happen to take good pictures of people because I can tell them what to do - in other words how to work their angles. Now personally, I don't think that is a particular skill set. I just think that its a matter of peering into the viewfinder and asking your subject to shift slightly and then actually snapping the photo when the person being photograph looks their best. NOTHING or little to do with actual photography at all - well except for composition.

As for the actual shutter speed, exposure and aperture settings... well....that's why we have cool pre programmed settings built in to our cameras - so that we don't have to use our brains that much.

Here's the reason I'm going all technical on my own ass... I just got myself a Sony CyberShot DSC-HX100V. It takes okay pictures while I'm behind the lens. Granted its not a pro camera... but then again... baby steps people. I need something I can practice on while I learn the ropes. For now... I love it to bits. It makes day to day life just that little bit more well... enjoyable - kind of the same way a smart phone did.

LOVES!

On to something else that I don't love so much. Because I took pictures until the early hours of the morning yesterday - aka, no sleep, I groggily got up at around 10am as I was falling down my small flight of stairs. I was trying to avoid a dead cockroach on one of the steps and - well... I missed a step. As a result, I crashed to the floor palms and knees first, crushing my ankle beneath me.

I didn't break it thankfully enough. It was merely a sprain - less frightening, but nonetheless still inconvenient. Unfortunately because I am allergic to Ibuprofen an analgesic and antiinflammatory, the doctor at the clinic wouldn't even give me mefenamic acid which also does the same thing - which I have taken before... and am not allergic to...to help me get the pain and swelling down. Instead she had me resorting to a Paracetamol and Codeine painkiller. It helps with the pain, but not with the swelling. BOOO!

So now I've got a nasty swollen and ache-ey ankle. So, to avoid having to hobble around the two story apartment I currently reside in, I'm camping out on the couch on the lower floor. Sad.