John Mayer Here,

A while back I went to my best friend and said to him, I said, "Mike, I think I'm ready to buy a DSLR instead of trying to fix my old SLR...what should I buy?"

Mike's response was about the same as when I said I wanted to buy a Mac, a new iPod and probably some other things as well, "Lucky you should ask, because I have an old [insert product here] that I've just upgraded from and have been needing to sell the old one." (Mike is also the person who I bought my PowerMac G5 from, as well as my 16GB iPod Touch from and possibly some other things...I don't remember).

And just like that, I had myself a Canon EOS Rebel XT with a 50mm lens and a 70-300mm lens with which to 'get out and shoot'. At first, I did what every person does when they get a new camera that is leaps and bounds beyond what they had been using (that would be my Samsung i760 cameraphone)...I took copious amounts of pictures of my dogs.

But then I started to venture out and take photos of plants and random objects, knowing that 95% of what I was shooting was probably of poor composition, but just the fact that I was snapping away was what mattered.

I've not been posting or sharing a lot of the images I've taken, mostly because I don't really like a lot of them, but I'm going to commit to going through the 2000+ shots soon and start putting them up on flickr later this week.

Fair warning, though: I've recently started to play with ISO settings, not using the flash and using RAW instead of jpeg, so there may be a period of adjustment involved for me.

Lastly, I'd really like to share this link with folks who like photography, for a few reasons:

1) This podcast has inspired me to get out and shoot, try to define my goals as a purely amateur photographer and learn to use pictures to tell a story, not just convey an image
2) They are genuinely informative and helpful with their shows and their critiques and their tips
3) They are having a link contest, and while I don't expect to win, it sure would be nice

http://twipphoto.com

The guys that run the This Week in Photography podcast are seasoned veterans and well-known in the photography and video worlds, and they always do their best to impart news, tips and words of encouragement to photogs of all skill levels.

Flickr shots coming later this week.