My first post for the new year, I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable time!

After working a year and a half with my employer I was forced to take a week of annual leave (despite having to work Christmas and New Years day!), with my fiance working there were no exciting holiday plans which is probably a good thing as our bank account would cry poor. The week turned out ok in the end, while I didn’t go on any grand adventures or see any of the 7 wonders of the world I did increase my knowledge of photography, I enjoyed learning this subject so much that my plans to get to level 80 in World of Warcraft did not come into fruition (in fact, I haven’t even logged in!).

My week started off with a trip to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, Victoria (Australia). I travelled with my Nikon D60 given to me by my fiance (best ‘hand-me-down’ ever wouldn’t you say?) as he had acquired the devilishly exquisite Nikon D90. I took a number of snaps, being an amateur photographer not many of my hopeful ‘best shots ever’ turned out that great.

My Nikon D60 (pictured above) is very well suited to those entering the intriguing world of DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) cameras. It has a number of camera modes to automatically adjust settings to get the right shot (or as close as you can without going manual) and easy to reach buttons to alter flash settings, exposure level, D-Active Lighting, etc. There’s also a function button you can program. I haven’t been exposed to any other brand in the DSLR community so my opinion is quite limited, in saying that I can assure that for the beginner this is an excellent choice and it’s a quality brand. Certainly the two outstanding candidates are Nikon and Canon.

For anyone not familiar with Sovereign Hill, it was one of Ballarat’s major gold digging sites where the world’s second largest gold nugget was found. To preserve it’s historic significance the digging site was recreated with 60 odd buildings and volunteer workers in character to depict how it was in the 1850’s. I set out to capture my 1850’s experience and freeze time.