New camera! (Utrecht, story + bunch of snaps)

[ivar]

I found out that having a (D)SLR is great. Okay, so far so good. But... it is quite a big thing, physically. When going to work, only having one bag/case to bring it is not the most useful thing, really. Enter: the P&S. In this case, enter the G9. It's a cool gadget, it has some of the Dgrinners' seal of approval, and it has more functions than my 30d :scratch

I've been quite busy the last few weeks, and have had no time whatsoever to try it out. Today was *the* big day! I was going to play with the new toy :barb Yesterday I made sure my battery was charged, the memory card was empty and I was ready to go. This morning I open the curtains, and as you would expect: dark, rain, cold. Terrific.

It really was no P&S weather, but who cares! whatever happened, I was going to use my camera today. I had to do a little shopping for my brothers birthday, so I took it with me, downtown.

Started out with a pink bike,
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244661687-L.jpg

but soon I wandered of to the little alleys. There are quite a few of them in Utrecht, and for some reason I love them.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244661249-L.jpg

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244660542-L.jpg

At one point I was walking towards the Dom. The Dom is a church, and church-tower. The tower is a little under 350' high and is the highest church-tower in the Netherlands. The church-tower is not connected to the actual church. When they built it, they started to run out of money at one point. Instead of waiting to raise more money they took the cheap route and built the 'bridge', connecting the church and tower, of cheap materials. Not too long after that....... there was a storm. Since then, the church and tower have been separated :D

Anyway, I was walking towards the Dom, and more and more people started walking in the other direction. At one point I felt like I was a fish swimming against the stream. So naturally, I had to continue :lol3

Turned out that between the church and tower, there was a fairly large ice-sculpture:
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244667288-L.jpg

By the way, ice is very hard to photograph;
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244666078-L.jpg

There were some very weird, purplish, lights directed on the sculpture which didn't make things easier :rolleyes This is part of the church in the background
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244663961-L.jpg

The sculpture from the other side, with part of the church tower in the background:
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244666386-L.jpg

And I was not the only one interested in it:
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244664215-L.jpg

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244665220-L.jpg

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244665793-L.jpg


The irony, I thought, was that the ice-sculpture was created for the start of the 'religious heritance' year. Out of 19000 churches and other religious buildings once built in the Netherlands, only about 9000 remain, and only about 4000 of them are still used actively as church. This year is to save those buildings. So what do they do? They put up an ice-sculpture that will be gone in about 2 days, since it is 40 degrees F or more :lol3

This was supposed to be a saint of some sort saint, I think:
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244665610-L.jpg


Some of the leftovers:
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244666903-L.jpg

Next to the sculture there were some kids who were getting a lesson in sculpting ice:
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244663462-L.jpg

of course, a small demonstration had to be done by mr. iceman. The weather had turned even worse at this point:
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244662274-M.jpg

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244662745-M.jpg

Pfew, I don't think I've ever posted this many shots on digital grin, total. One last one though:
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/244664790-L.jpg

I hope you enjoyed the small trip around Utrecht. C&C, questions and whatever else you can think of are most welcome.

[Cuong]

The page took a long time to load after the text showed up, but still didn't see any picture at the end when the page was done loading. Had to use my imagination as I was reading your narrative.

Cuong

[ivar]

The page took a long time to load after the text showed up, but still didn't see any picture at the end when the page was done loading. Had to use my imagination as I was reading your narrative.

CuongSmugMug is currently being worked on (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=728727#post728727), but everything should be back to normal shortly after which the photos should show as normal :thumb

[Cuong]

I see the cool pics now. Thanks.

Cuong

[schmoo]

Thank you for taking us all to Utrecht! The weather looked pretty cloudy that day which I always dislike for photos. It's soft light, at least. :D

The dom is beautiful. The last shot in particular really shows how tall it is. I would have loved to be one of the kids watching how they sculpt. Another shot i love is the man taking the photos while everyone else around him is moving. What a great street shot!

Congrats again on the new G9. Convenience can't be beat. ;)

I hope your brother liked whatever you got him, too :D

[Skippy]

I found out that having an (D)SLR is great. Okay, so far so good. But... it is quite a big thing, physically. When going to work, only having one bag/case to bring it is not the most useful thing, really. Enter: the P&S. In this case, enter the G9. It's a cool gadget, it has some of the Dgrinners' seal of approval, and it has more functions than my 30d :scratch

I've been quite busy the last few weeks, and have had no time whatsoever to try it out. Today was *the* big day! I was going to play with the new toy :barb Yesterday I made sure my battery was charged, the memory card was empty and I was ready to go. This morning I open the curtains, and as you would expect: dark, rain, cold. Terrific.

It really was no P&S weather, but who cares! whatever happened, I was going to use my camera today. I had to do a little shopping for my brothers birthday, so I took it with me, downtown.

Pfew, I don't think I've ever posted this many shots on digital grin, total. One last one though:

I hope you enjoyed the small trip around Utrecht. C&C, questions and whatever else you can think of are most welcome.

Congratulations Ivar on your new G9 :clap
I agree with you about the joy of owning a DSLR, and I too recently brought a point and shoot that is small enough to fit in my pocket.

Sometimes you just want to not carry stuff, but at the same time,
you don't want to miss any photo opportunities,
and that's where the smaller camera's come in very very handy indeed.

Your images are great Ivar, my personal favourite is the last shot.

I gotta laugh though.......what is it with finger tip photography :rofl
notice the people you photographed who were also taking photos,
and all of them are finger tip photographers :rofl

Great series Ivar, thanks for sharing your day out with your G9. :thumb
.... Skippy :D
.

[ivar]

Thank you for taking us all to Utrecht! The weather looked pretty cloudy that day which I always dislike for photos. It's soft light, at least. :DYeah, I really shouldn't have gone, but I really wanted to, you know? :lol3

The dom is beautiful. The last shot in particular really shows how tall it is.It is, and did you know you can climb the tower :deal


I would have loved to be one of the kids watching how they sculpt. Another shot i love is the man taking the photos while everyone else around him is moving. What a great street shot!Thanks, I like that one too, albeit slightly soft.

Congrats again on the new G9. Convenience can't be beat. ;)

I hope your brother liked whatever you got him, too :DConvenience is not a bad thing at all, especially if it takes decent photos :D My brother will get his present later today, so we'll see :thumb

[ivar]

Congratulations Ivar on your new G9 :clap
I agree with you about the joy of owning a DSLR, and I too recently brought a point and shoot that is small enough to fit in my pocket.

Sometimes you just want to not carry stuff, but at the same time,
you don't want to miss any photo opportunities,
and that's where the smaller camera's come in very very handy indeed.Yeah, I haven't had a P&S for years. I used to have one of those really tiny Sony DSC-U20. Although you could not change any settings, it took relatively pretty good photos. Unfortunately, It didn't survive one of my flights from the US to Europe for some reason :scratch

Your images are great Ivar, my personal favourite is the last shot.

I gotta laugh though.......what is it with finger tip photography :rofl
notice the people you photographed who were also taking photos,
and all of them are finger tip photographers :rofl

Great series Ivar, thanks for sharing your day out with your G9. :thumb
.... Skippy :D
.Thanks, the one of the resistance monument I like as well. A lot of people were using just their fingertips to hold the camera and take photos. I've never tried it, nor do I really now how I was holding the camera when I took the shots actually. A lot of cameras are pretty small, so that could be the only decent way of holding them and still seeing the screen? :dunno

[JenGrace]

I have to be careful when I hold my p&s because otherwise part of my finger might cover the lens. It's right next to the edge. :rolleyes I do agree with the convenience of a p&s when carrying a dslr kit is tiresome. I think you got some great street photos...I agree with Schmoo about the one with the people moving while the guy is standing still. And that last shot is awe-inspiring. :D

[weronika]

Yay, G9! I keep lusting after it, but I already got a new camera this year...

These are some cool shots!
I really love the one of the ice sculpture with the church in the background. :thumb The angle is interesting, great contrast and balance, plus the trees look good. And the cloudy sky color really works well for that one! I love photos that look almost monochrome but aren't.
The one with two bikes in an alley is a good one - the closer bike is interesting-looking. Actually I think I'd crop the left side with the red bike out and just have a 4x8 of the blue bike in an alley.
And the one with the guy taking a picture and everyone else blurry is cool too.

As for fingertip photography - what is the right way to hold a compact, anyway? I think I'm a borderline fingertip photographer too, but I'd love to learn better...

[Awais Yaqub]

great pictures !

[gus]

Love the pink bike. If that G9 was waterproof i would sell a kidney this morning. Man that camera looks the stuff.

[a-baird-photograph]

Great shots. Love the pink bike too. My daughter wants one now. Can't wait to see what you come up with for Queens Day.

[saurora]

Hi Ivar! Your new camera takes pretty awesome shots! I'd sure love to have one, but I can't quite justify another camera!!! :D I like the pink bike....the colors are great in that shot and compensate for the lousy weather conditions. I also love the last shot. Thanks for sharing these....hope we'll see more! :thumb

[ivar]

I have to be careful when I hold my p&s because otherwise part of my finger might cover the lens. It's right next to the edge. :rolleyes I do agree with the convenience of a p&s when carrying a dslr kit is tiresome. I think you got some great street photos...I agree with Schmoo about the one with the people moving while the guy is standing still. And that last shot is awe-inspiring. :DThanks, Jen!

I've never really thought about how I am holding a P&S to be honest, I should pay attention next time :lol3 I guess the G9 is fairly large and easy to hold, but I can imagine with the small P&S cameras that it may not be easy.

[ivar]

Yay, G9! I keep lusting after it, but I already got a new camera this year...

These are some cool shots!
I really love the one of the ice sculpture with the church in the background. :thumb The angle is interesting, great contrast and balance, plus the trees look good. And the cloudy sky color really works well for that one! I love photos that look almost monochrome but aren't.
The one with two bikes in an alley is a good one - the closer bike is interesting-looking. Actually I think I'd crop the left side with the red bike out and just have a 4x8 of the blue bike in an alley.
And the one with the guy taking a picture and everyone else blurry is cool too.

As for fingertip photography - what is the right way to hold a compact, anyway? I think I'm a borderline fingertip photographer too, but I'd love to learn better...Hi Weronika :wave

Thanks for the comments! I'll try the crop you suggested when I have some time.

I'm not sure if there is a 'right way' to hold a P&S. I guess whichever way stabilizes the camera the best, works? :dunno

[ivar]

great pictures !Thanks Awais!

[ivar]

Love the pink bike. If that G9 was waterproof i would sell a kidney this morning. Man that camera looks the stuff.A waterproof G9...... where is that drool-smiley when you need one :D

[ivar]

Hi Ivar! Your new camera takes pretty awesome shots! I'd sure love to have one, but I can't quite justify another camera!!! :D I like the pink bike....the colors are great in that shot and compensate for the lousy weather conditions. I also love the last shot. Thanks for sharing these....hope we'll see more! :thumbHi Susan, thanks! I don't want to get you in trouble, but you should really look at this camera, it is quite nice :wink

[pathfinder]

A waterproof G9...... where is that drool-smiley when you need one :D


Great series Ivar, a lovely introduction to Utrecht.

Canon DOES make a completely waterproof, submersible, housing for a G9, for use by divers, Gus.........

I've have had great fun with my G9.