A taste of the valley

I'm still full.  It's been a couple of hours now since we left the event at the Middle School...and I'm still full.

Tonight was the annual "Taste of Tuscarawas Valley" to benefit the Tusky Valley local schools band boosters.  And since Molly is in the band program and volunteered to work, we attended as well.  The night was filled with local food vendors, (restaurants,  caterers and local small businesses), providing samples of their dishes.  My personal favorite was the sausage sampler from Canal Tavern of Zoar.  Especially the "beer cheese" sauce to dip in.  While we were waiting for the doors to open for the event we were looking over the list of vendors and reading the rules that each vendor gives you a sample and they check off your list as you go.  We were wondering why a good number of the people going into the event had Tupperware containers with them.  We understand why now.  Even though they are just "samples", you still walk away with a fair amount of food and deserts.  And while you enjoy the tasty treats, the middle school band as well as the high school's jazz band play selections of music. 
A really good night with a lot of money raised for the music program.  Actually, it was a complete sell out for them this year!

 

Yet another new lens

Since I've decided to start building my photographic empire, I've decided that I have to start getting some better equipment to go along with it.  For the longest time I've felt pretty comfortable that the 18-55mm lens that came with my Canon was enough for wide angle shots.  That was until I used it for a shot back in December where I found that 18mm is not wide angle enough.  So enter my new Sigma 10-20mm.  Not the fastest lens out there, but seems like a pretty sturdy lens.  What amazes me is just how wide angle it can get.  

Here's an example of my 18-55mm shot at 18mm.

Picture taken within a foot of the camera.  Pretty decent coverage close up. Now, let's see how it looks at approximately the same distance and at 10mm on the Sigma lens.

There is a whole lot more there.  But I also am noticing that the image, shot at the same ISO setting, has a lot more noise in it.  When I get some time this week, I'll take it for a walk after work and see what I get out in the world with natural lighting. 

But for now, I have to get back to some website building.

Evolution

There's been a slight change to this site made today.  For the past couple of years, TuscPics.com has been my primary site for displaying and sharing my photography.  But as I am now in the process of trying to decide how I want to continue with things, I made a change to the site name.  Before the site was simply called, "Andy Donaldson Photography - TuscPics.com".  Now I'm adding "The weblog of" to the front of that.  

Why am I doing it, you might ask?  Well, I'm thinking it's about time I make things official and start my own small business as a photographer.  Huzzah!  With that being the case, I want to have a presence on the web that will be for "business" side of things, looking all professional and what-not. But at the same time I do not want to give up having this site and domain to be used for sharing my adventures in f-stops.  Especially since so many of those showcase the community I live in and all the cool and wonderful things that there are to take pictures of around here.  Hence the name TuscPics.com.  Tusc meaning Tuscarawas County.  

So, stay tuned.  Only the "title" of this site has changed.  Once I have a plan layed out and in place, I will advertise it here as well as my Facebook page, (be sure to like me there!).  I'm not in a rush, mind you.  I really enjoy the pace of things as they are and will continue along. But at the same time, this is an exciting time for me and I hope you'll come along for the ride.  Onward!