I went for a walk yesterday afternoon, under the I-44 bridge. For the … what? … one hundredth and first time? I felt like I was covering ground I’ve already covered. A lot. Because, let’s face it, I was.

 

On the other hand, though, I’ve never gone under the I-44 bridge with this spiffy new lens, with its 18mm wide angle and wonderful sharpness. Also, I think I’m a better photographer now than I was the last time I took pictures under the bridge.

 

Then, last night I tried hand-held night-time skyline shots. I learned that I can manage hand-held down to about 1/4th of a second, with reasonable results. And if I take 3-4 pictures of the same thing, I have an even better chance of getting one that I like. Shutter speeds close to a full second, though, are still rather hopeless hand-held. I’m thinking I should invest in a monopod, and see what slow I can go with one of those.

 

Still, it’s amazing to be able to shoot hand-held at 1/8th to 1/4th of a second. Before I had this lens, about 1/30th was the slowest I could manage with any hope of success. 1/20th if I was steadfastly lucky. So, three cheers for the march of technology. Technology will make a photographer out of me yet.