A great day to be outdoors (and some words on photography books)

Fence, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Pine, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Seeds, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

We went outside today with the children, to enjoy the sunshine at noon. It was cold, but not too cold, and the children enjoyed playing in the snow.

I took quite a few photographs, but didn't really concentrate on photography, but no matter, this was a fine day anyway.

Since finishing the book "Within the Frame" by David duChemin, of which I wrote a somewhat caustic review, I have returned to re-reading other books about photography.

Freeman Patterson's "Photographing the World Around You" was even better than I remembered, providing a feast of discussion about developing photography skills. Now I'm re-reading "Photography for the Joy of It" (by Freeman Patterson and André Gallant), another great book which I have read two or three times previously, but always find new insights there.

Update: I have been thinking about micro 4/3 cameras every once in a while, especially Olympus E-PL1 (which is not yet available). TOP had some time ago an excellent posting about "small format", here is a quote: "The vast majority of consumers has no need for anything above micro 4/3. Proof? They have survived just fine until now with p&s microscopic sensors! [...] That takes care of 80% of the market. End of story. [...] Like it or not, the current vast majority of "photographers" who claim to need more are of the pixel-peping variety. Or in other words: the furthest removed from photography one can get!"

Why I haven't yet invested in micro 4/3 is down to two things: lens selection and the excellence of the Panasonic LX3. If there were two lenses (in addition to the existing and excellent Panasonic 20 mm f/1.7), I would take the leap: a 12 mm (24 mm equiv.) f/2.8 pancake and a 40 mm (or 50 mm) f/2.8 macro. These three lenses would be all that is needed, at least for the moment. Going back to primes, that would be an interesting thing indeed.