Well my Fuji s9k is back in my hands after a brief visit to Fuji Canada. A few weeks ago, the capture mode just suddenly shut down. I tried changing batteries, but it still wouldn't work. So I hand delivered the cam to Fuji, and picked it up early last week. As it turns out, they could find nothing wrong with it other than possibly dirty battery contacts.

It's working fine now, as you'll see if you drop by Flickr to see some new images.

Being without the Fuji didn't stop me from shooting, however. I have my D70 and it was quite nice to re-aquaint myself with that camera. It really is an excellent piece of equipment. Because it is a true DSLR, the lenses are removeable, so there is always the risk of dust on the sensor. I have to get into the habit of blowing out the interior of that cam before I use it, whether it needs it or not. Inevitably, if I *don't* do this, something ends up on the sensor and I find myself in Photoshop or Fireworks doing some clean up work. (As a side note, the Healing Brush and Spot Healing brush have become *very* good friends of mine.)

The weather is getting nicer so I find myself travelling around more often. For quite some time, I wasn't shooting for myself. I never realized how much I missed doing that. How relaxing and exciting it is at the same time. I've been shooting for myself  much more over the past few weeks and it feels great. A nice break from parking my butt in front of my PC all the time and it also helps sharpen my visual design skills. I have plans to go with a friend to shoot a wind farm that is about 2 hours outside of Toronto. We're aiming to shoot either early morning or dusk (for the added drama). I can't wait to see what we come up with.