Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro :: My Only Complaint

I recently purchased a Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 Di SP Macro Lens and was intending to employ the above title in an ironic sense, such that my only real complaint was that I hadn't purchased the lens any sooner. When using the lens on a number of objects around the back yard, I was really pleased and enjoying the lens, despite what I believe its one real limitation - the extending front element as one focuses closes to 1:1 (as opposed to internal focusing mechanisms) - which I was willing to overlook because I knew of it going into the purchase. But then, when I took the lens with me out to a local hiking trail, I discovered that for some reason it would not focus to infinity; in fact, it wouldn't focus any further out than about ten feet.

So I exchanged it for a Tokina AF 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro Macro Lens, which as it turned out, would only intermittently choose to communicate with my camera body. Next stop: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens. And I will certainly be posting results, as well as any complaints.

Adventures with Darby: Smelling like the Scenery

There is something peculiar and innate with Darby that compels here to roll around in strange foreign substances in an attempt to acquires their foul stenches. And as much as I want to curb this behavior, few activities seem to bring her greater joy than knowing she now stinks as badly as whatever that was that she found.

Darby rolling in a Foreign Substance at Black Creek in Fultondale, Alabama

The American House Spider Nursing Its Eggsack

The American House Spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) nursing its Eggsack

Leaf-Footed Bugs on Common Mullein, Black Creek Park

Leaf-Footed Bugs (Leptoglossus phyllopus) on Common Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

at Black Creek Park in Fultondale, Alabama (at the Gallery, here).

Dilapidated Fencing along the Dunes, Destin, Florida

After developing a roll of film from my then-newly-acquired Fuji GS645S (read about it, here), I came upon a couple of additional photographs from our beach vacation to Destin, Florida, this summer. This is the second of two.

Dilapidated Fencing along the Dunes at Miramar Beach in Destin, Florida

Overlooking Miramar Beach, Destin, Florida

After developing a roll of film from my then-newly-acquired Fuji GS645S (read about it, here), I came upon a couple of additional photographs from our beach vacation to Destin, Florida, this summer. This is the first of two.

Overlooking Miramar Beach in Destin, Florida

Hazy Mid-Morning Hike at the Cahaba River

A Hazy Mid-Morning Hike on the Trail at the Cahaba River in Birmingham, Alabama

Dense Ground Cover near the Cahaba River, Alabama

Dense Ivy serves as ground cover along the forest floor at the 

hiking trails along the Cahaba River in Birmingham, Alabama.