It has been my goal for some time now to attend a wedding as the main photographer, a goal I completed over the weekend down in Christchurch, New Zealand - a two hour flight from home.

Overall I found the whole process rather relaxed. My flight arrived in Christchurch the afternoon before the wedding, and I popped into the chapel before heading to my accommodation for the night to check out the lighting, and scout locations for the formal shots.

The morning of the wedding was super relaxed, however I found myself running between two houses shooting the preparation shots from both the groom and the brides sides. I must have swapped lenses dozens of times in the two hour period of shooting preparation shots, though I found myself primarily shooting with the Canon EF 135 f/2L and the Canon EF 50 f/1.4 under the harsh lighting conditions. The primes kept me thinking about composition and created a very ’smooth’ depth of field when shot at low apertures.

The chapel where the ceremony was held was very small, I used the Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L for shots of the wedding party arriving, along with the bride walking down the aisle. In saying this, the Canon EF 135 f/2L was a perfect focal length for most of the ceremony, and was attached the the camera for 90% of the time. I feel this could be a different story under different conditions (size of chapel/church), so a little extra focal length might come in handy in the future. One of the upsides of the 135L is its immense sharpness, so cropping is possible if more detail is needed to be pulled from images.

The most invaluable lens of the day was hands down the Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L. The versatility when it came to shooting portraits was invaluable. I enjoyed the ability to go from full-body shots to head-shots within a twist of the zoom. The only other way to provide similar versatility would be to have two camera bodies, one with a wide angle lens and another with a medium length telephoto.

If I was shooting another wedding down the line in the future, there are a few extra tools I’d like to pick up.

Canon Speedlite Flash

I didn’t think I’d be needing to use flash anywhere near as much as I did. I thought with my two super-fast primes, I could make use of available light. Although true, I found I used the flash for over 75% of the portraits as fill light to eliminate shadows on faces.

A Canon 430EX purchase looms in the very near future.

Wider Prime Lens

I shot the Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L at two focal lengths the entire day, 24 & 70. When shooting outdoor formals the lens was glued to the wide end - I found myself often wanting to shoot wider.

The Canon EF 14 f/2.8L looks very attractive for this use, bar the hefty price tag it carries. Of course the Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8L must be considered, but I could see myself using the lens glued to the 16mm end - hence the want for the prime.

Extra Camera Body

While a different camera body mightn’t have created better images, it’d have made it a whole lot easier to capture the ones I did. Shooting with an aging Canon 350D wasn’t the easiest thing to do, especially when trying to capture focus for candid portraits when the action was moving very quickly.

Ideally, I’d like something which has a more accurate AF system, better performance above ISO 400, and something with two card slots for redundancy. The last thing any wedding photographer wants is lost images.

Overall, I was extremely happy with the images I managed to capture with the gear I had with me - I’m very excited with the results from the day, and I’m looking forward to the next wedding, whenever & wherever that may be.

The Final Figures

1419 frames fired using one camera body, two Sandisk 4GB compact flash cards, three Canon lenses, and 11.19GB of hard-drive space.

1066 Images - Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L
250 Images - Canon EF 135 f/2L
103 Images - Canon EF 50 f/1.4

I don’t have many resolutions this year, just four. Four simple goals I’d like to follow in the calendar year of 2008. I succeeded with each and every one of last years set goals, I hope I will be just as successful with these four things this year.

Work Hard, Play Harder

Most of 2007 was spent working hard, toward the latter end I found myself wasting a lot more time than I would like to admit. This years goal is to push myself to work as hard as possible,while really enjoying myself after the fact. I know I can work and play hard, I just need to separate the two and focus on the task in hand.

Learn And Master Photography

I’ve learnt a lot this past year from my main hobby, photography. I hit last years New Years Resolution to take 15,000 images over the course of 2007, and this year, plan to not only continue taking images, but to read books, listen to fellow photographers, and further my knowledge of the art.

Make Decisions And Never Look Back

It was just a few evenings ago while I was watchig Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift where I picked up on this quote. Life is all about making decisions, to then make the most of them, we need to keep our heads up and never look back. Look at the positives, and reap ther best we can from all situations. I will do my best this year to make positive choices, and never look back at them - just keep moving forward.

Be Less Materialistic

Notice in this years list I don’t have anything listed under a heading “Buy ??” This year I plan to be far less materialistic than I have in the past. No large impulse purchases, minimal amounts of cash spent on technology, and just watching my wallet in general. Sure, if a really nice MacBook Pro update comes along, I’m not ruling out the chance of upgrading, there will just be a longer and more thorough thought process involved.

Credit: Flickr Photographer

Wow. I wish I felt like this all the time. I’ve just woken up after only heading to bed an hour ago, it’s eleven PM. I jumped out of bed feeling energized and motivated.

This happens to me quite frequently but I wish it stayed with me for longer than it usually does. I’ve just sat down with a pad and a pen and wrote down some goals for 2008. Not even specifically for 2008, but for now, for in a months time, for my future.

Over the course of the next 12 months there’s so much I want to do, so many experiences I want to be put through, and so many things I’d love to acquire. I’m planing to have much more fun in my life, to enjoy what I do and take it to the next level. To excel in everything I make a start on - first and foremost, my main projects online, this blog and my video show.

Tonight I’ve tried to make the most of the situation and grab the pad and pen to get some thoughts out of my head. I’m so glad I did, I feel I now have some focus in my life for the next 12 months. Is it just me or do you often get sudden rushes of excitement and motivation?

Last year I wrote a similar post, here’s the 2007 edition of what technology I’ve purchased this year. All-in-all, I spent more than I wish I had on technology this year, I’m expecting 2008 to be a slightly quieter year. I’m happy with my current setup and will be for some time.

Mac Pro (Then Sold)

Last years goal was to update my setup from a 17″ iMac to a more powerful machine. I achieved that earlier this year when I bought a brand new 2.66Ghz Mac Pro. The machine has now been sold as I’ve moved to a fully portable setup, the MacBook Pro + Apple Cinema Display.

30″ Apple Cinema Display

I remember a few years back when I first saw one of these massive displays, I told myself I wanted one, and would one day have one. I never thought that day would actually arrive, yet earlier this year in tandem with the Mac Pro, it did. I became the owner of my dream display. I’m fully aware the Apple Cinema Display line will be updated in the near future, but I have no plans to sell and update. The 30″ display is a perfect extension to the workspace on my 15″ notebook, and adds superb functionality.

MacBook Pro

When I sold my Mac Pro I needed a new machine, I decided to make the move to a portable computing platform - the MacBook Pro. To all those who’ve asked, the MacBook Pro was kindly sponsored by AdvertiseHereForever. Thanks Brendan!

Canon 50mm f/1.8 (Then Sold)

One item I singled out last year to buy in 2007, was this 50mm prime lens. I only recently made the purchase, then quickly sold (after a few thousand images..) to upgrade to its big brother, the f/1.4 version.

Canon 50mm f/1.4

I loved the lens listed above so much, I wanted to reap the benefits of the f/1.4 version. Faster and more accurate auto-focus, better build quality, and a wider aperture opening. This lens is a dream to own, it’s permanently attached to my Canon EOS 350D.

iPod touch 16GB

After selling all of my iPods, I picked up the 16Gb iPod touch the day of release. The iPod touch is the most exciting device I’ve ever owned. The touch based functionality leaves on-lookers stunned.

Other items purchased included the new Apple Wireless Keyboard, the Canon PowerShot TX1, and the Altec Lansing FX6021 Speakers.

Planned purchases for 2008? Possibly updating the MacBook Pro to a newer model later in the year (quad-core), an iPhone, and a various array of Canon lenses.

I’ve been very lucky to have owned these items this year, next year will be much quieter in the money spending department as I continue to save toward my future.

What technology items did you purchase in 2007, and what do you plan to purchase next year?

I’ve been asked time and time again why my desk is so clean when I post a picture to Flickr, people tell me I should leave it the way it is and not ’stage’ the desk shots. Well, uhh, folks - that’s how my desk looks in a normal situation.

How I manage to keep such a tidy desk is something even I don’t know. It would be so easy to let things pile up and be working under a cover of books, paper, and stationary, but I don’t. I manage to keep the workspace clean and tidy and it usually stays that way. I think it could be down to my OCD problem, everything has to look right, be right, and fit in right.

There are a few things I can comprehend which I do to keep the workspace tidy. These include putting things away as soon as I’ve used them. Finished with a book? I put it away right away. When I’m packaging a parcel to send in the post, as soon as it’s done the tape and excess bubble wrap get put away in the cupboard. If my desk is not tidy, I find it difficult to work comfortably. A clean environment is critical for me to be productive and work well.

A reader by the name of Peter asked me this exact question last week, I think a shortened version of the answer to how I keep my workspace so tidy is my problem, that little problem called OCD.

Are you much like me? Is your workspace clean and tidy or messy and cluttered? How do you like to work?

Just a few quick notes which don’t warrant a full post of their own, but I wanted to make a quick mention of.

I’ve sat down with a few other Mac fanatics and recorded the first episode of the MacFocus podcast. The team of Nick Danforth, Alex Killpatrick, Wesley Yendrys and myself produced the first podcast yesterday evening. Oh, and before you mention something - I’ve already told Wesley the show needs an iTunes feed before any further episodes are made.

Chanpory Rith from the popular blog LifeClever which focuses on helping you design, work, and live better, asked me to write a guest post a few weeks back. My article, 5 Simple Steps To Greater Productivity is now live on the site.

Last but not least, up-and-coming Mac blogger Shawn Blanc interviewed me on his personal weblog. The interview was conducted over dozens of emails and more than three days last week, and is now live for viewing on his blog. I was very pleased with how the interview evolved, very detailed and fun to be a part of.

On a final note, writing this post has left me considering integrating a link blog into the blog where I can post little rambling much like this on a daily basis. Kind of like the Daring Fireball Linked List. Any thoughts on this idea?

One year old today. 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, or 8,760 hours. It feels like so much longer, I’ve done so much over this short year - met so many cool people, blogged about so many cool things, and had a lot of fun communicating with the people who matter, you!

July 22nd, 2006 stated the opening of this blog. Since then, I’ve published 270+ articles, collecting 4,641+ comments. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many new people, creating so many new friendships, and further developing my writing in a community atmosphere.

1. Quality Content Pays Off

One thing which has really worked for me over the past year is writing quality content on a regular basis. You need to personally be able to see value in the writing you’ve done, if you can’t, chances are no one else will either.

Write for a reason. Are you writing this post because you haven’t blogged for four days and feel you need to post something? You don’t. Only post if you have something to say, chances are, if you wait till it gets to this what you have to say will be valuable, and will be formed as quality content.

2. Establish Reader Relationships Early

See people regularly commenting on your blog? Get in contact with them, reply to their comments, listen to them, and most importantly, communicate. It’s important to know what your readers want from your site - the only way to do this is keep the avenue for contact open and respond to all emails you receive. A few words in reply can go a long way.

3. Keep Focused On A Niche

Pick your niche/s and stick to them. Try not to sway off too far as you could lose your focused readership. Pick something you know a lot about, no one is going to listen to a blogger blogging about a topic they know nothing about.

This should be done in the early days of blogging, if not even before starting up the site. Make sure you know your stuff about what you’re writing about. Keep focused, and keep your readership.

4. Forget The Stats

I’ve seen too many blogger focus on stats in the early days of running a blog, sure, they can be exciting, but soon you will reach a stage where you need to step away from them and set some goals, think about exactly why you’re looking at stats - shouldn’t your main goal be to create great content? Visitors will flow in over time, don’t over scrutinize or analyze them before you need to. Keep writing about what you love, it doesn’t matter if 20 or 2000 people are reading, just keep at it.

5. Read More Than You Write

What do you think of when you hear the word “Blogger?” I think of writing, I’m sure most of you do too. However, there’s more to becoming a successful blogger than just writing, you need to keep in the “know” about general happenings in your niche. I would estimate I read 50 fold what I write - not a small amount. Subscribe to sites, blogs and magazines and just start reading content, it’ll ultimately help you write/blog better.

Thanks For Your Encouraging And Vocal Support

Last but not least, thanks for all your support over the past 12 months. It has been great to have an audience as vocal and encouraging as you! I can’t wait to see what’s in store in the future, one thing I know for sure is that I will not stop blogging anytime soon - I love what I’m doing here. Thank you all!

Last week I listed my week three Core Duo MacBook for sale on TradeMe, an auction site similar to eBay but specific for New Zealanders. I listed the laptop with intention to update it to a newer Core 2 Duo model, meaning I’d get a faster processor, the newer Airport card, and a fresh clean laptop for a very small chunk of change.

Yesterday when the money was sitting in my account and I was about to head to Apple and purchase a new laptop, I stopped dead in my tracks and made a decision to go without a laptop for the next few months..I’m already reaping the rewards on not having the computer attached to me 24/7.

A few close friends will know of my current living situation, others won’t. We currently have rennovations going on at our house and they’ll be going for another couple of months, the blog I linked to is a daily jornal kept by my mother on happenings. Everything is super hectic around here, and we’re temporarily living between our house in its current state, and the neighbours house.

My iMac (my new main machine for now) is at the neighbours where my Airport reception won’t reach, so I’m having a relaxing time leaving work at work (IE: the nehibours house). When I come home I’m not thinking about the computer, but getting to do other things such as reading, writing on paper (big change), and spending time taking photos.

I’m starting to become accustomed to this way of life though I’m immensely looking forward to moving into our completed house, and having a permanent desktop computer in my room, with a laptop for when I’m out and on the move.

I’ll also take this chance to apologise to anyone who will be emailing me over the next 6-8 weeks if my emails aren’t replied to within 6-12 hours - I’ll be replying to emails each evening instead of constantly throughout the day. Oh, and anyone want to send me their RSS feed OPML file? I forgot to copy mine off the MacBook before the fresh install and have to re-build mine from scratch *bangs head*.

A couple more months and my life will be back in order.

Everyone has places they go, things they do, or things they look at to gain inspiration to keep them motivated on the task in hand. I am no different, no matter what I’m doing, these 5 people/things never fail to inspire me to do great things.

Derek Punsalan

Derek Punsalan’s blog 5ThirtyOne remains at the top of my RSS reader as my favorite personal blog, just as it has since I started reading just over 12 months ago.

Derek is a freelance designer by day, blogger by night. I have been truly inspired with some of the design work he has done inthe past, in particular, Sylvia Loh and his personal portfolio. Derek is another designer who has a thing for constantly pushing out re-designs for his blog, in the past 6 months I can count 3 different designs which have hailed the home-page of 5ThirtyOne.

Derek’s content is always a joy to read, his lengthy and well thought-out articles are a source of knowledge within themselves, he posts many enjoyable tutorials and reviews of his latest tech toys on a regular basis. Derek’s technology setup and skill set doesn’t just feed me with inspiration, it fills me with envy.

Inspiration For: Content Creation, Design.

Darren Rowse

3 years ago Darren Rowse was a regular man working a regular day job. Now, he’s one of the top bloggers in the industry, working on ProBlogger, while running B5 Media, Darren keeps himself busy each and every day working on dozens of different weblogs.

Darren never fails to amaze me with what he’s done with ProBlogger, building up a one stop blogging tips site over the last few years - every single post Darren’s has written drives me to do great things just as he has.

Darren story of how he started his blogging venture online, and what he did to become successful is a story I’ll never become tired of hearing.

Inspiration For: Success, Drive, Determination. Continue Reading »

I’ve been a little overwhelmed recently with all the projects I’ve taken on. With these projects my email load has increased. Along with this increased email load, I’ve also become overwhelmed with RSS feeds, tweets via Twitter, and Skype calls coming my way.

In a few months time I’m likely to drop a lot of these projects and focus solely on this blog, though at the moment I’ve felt the need to get into a slightly better shape before I make any changes down the line.

Last weekend I sorted through my entire machine, applications, and web services in order to try and cut down on “digital noise & clutter.” Continue Reading »

Update: I’ve decided to change my plan of attack, and lighten the load a little. Blog comments & Flickr activity now get directed into my RSS reader.

A few weeks ago I changed all my social web accounts to send emails to me when activity happened on my profiles/accounts. My volume of email has increased, but it makes a handy collection ground so I don’t need to trace around the web checking for updates as frequently. When something happens, I hear about it straight away.

What gets delivered to my inbox? Continue Reading »

Recently I have far too often been browsing blogs, responding to email, and chatting to collueages over Skype in the late hours of the night.Let me tell you this is not a good routine for someone who is waking up at 6AM every weekday morning. It doesn’t put me in the best position to be focused on studying the next morning.

I haven’t been hard enough on myself, I have a morning routine set in stone, but evenings just seem to linger. I find myself browsing through the blogosphere, picking up inspiration to create content and be creative, and the hours simply pass by while I’m completely oblivious to the fact.

Though the late hours of the evening yeild great results for my blogging, they are far less productive per hour compared to the early morning. I’m making a pledge to shut down my Mac by 9:45 PM each and every night so I can get into a better evening routine.

How will I use the next 45 minutes before I go to bed? I’ll use it to read, to jot down notes in my notebook, draw design sketches, and be productive away from the stress of my email beeping every minute.

What time are you usually off your computer at night?

As of recent I’ve had to keep away from my WordPress install, due to the fact that I’ve increasingly been wanting to write more personal opinion posts about topics currently (and currently not) in the news. This inspiration to get more personal has mainly been pushed into my head from one blogger, Khoi Vinh of Subtraction.

I love creating feature content which appeals to everyone - yet I’d love to be able to throw a few posts in here and there about my life. About personal experiences and ramblings on technology, blogging, photography, design, and the web in general.

What do you think about this? Would you mind if I started getting a little more personal and starting to blog about my perspective and opinion on things, or should I keep the same flow and routine which has drawn you to this post?

It’s been a while since we last did this, so I decided to take a few moments to post and request all the lurkers to show their faces so I can get to know you all.

I know many of you just read (yes, thats you), but never participate in discussion under the articles in the comment area. Here’s your chance to show your face and meet up with some fellow readers.

I have met some great people through the comment area of the blog, so now it’s your turn to tell me about yourself. What’s your name, how long have you been reading, and what computer setup are you running? For all the regular readers feel free to leave a comment so you dont feel left out *winks*.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you all this time around.

This week my goal is to find my blogging voice, you can help me do this by telling me what you like reading about.

After a quick brainstorming session I’ve decided to keep my main focus on Apple, Productivity, Blogging, and Photography. In that order.

What topics do you enjoy reading, what topics do you dislike reading, and what topics do you want to see covered more?

New Year Resolutions, I have never bothered with them in the past - but today I’m changing that. Instead of resolutions, here’s a group of 5 goals I would like to fulfill in 2007.

Learn, and have fun in the process

I want to start learning because I enjoy it, and have fun in the process. No matter if it’s school work, real life work or photography, I want to have fun while filling my brain with knowledge and preparing myself for the future.

Snap more frames

Taking a quick look at my Aperture library, I’ve taken just under 3,500 images this year. The last 2 months have averaged 1,000 images each. My goal for 2007 is too get out more with my DSLR and take 15,000 images over the course of the year.

Buy a new workstation

2006 has been pretty big for me, I’ve taken up photography as a hobby and now it is one of my major passions. My current Mac, the iMac is rather sluggish when editing images in Aperture. It’s screen is too small, doesn’t hold enough RAM, and I’m quickly outgrowing the hard-drive. My goal is to have a new pro workstation before the year ends.

Be more productive

I feel as a whole I am very productive, but I feel I still waste a lot of time browsing the web when it could be used for many other things, such as writing.

Live for the minute

I am going to stop looking ahead at the things I could have in the future, and enjoy what I have today. I am going to start living for the day, living for the hour, and living for the minute. I want to enjoy every second of this year, and make the most of my time.

What are your New Year Resolutions?

It’s come to the time to wind down and review and look at the year which has almost passed. I’m doing a little review of what technology purchases I made personally this year. In other words this doesn’t include birthday or Christmas gifts, only objects I bought myself.

MacBook Core Duo

I had been eyeing up a laptop for a long while. My initial plan was to purchase a MacBook Pro, but when the MacBook’s were released I couldn’t resist getting the cheaper model. It has an awesome glossy screen, small form factor, great specs, at one great price.

Cash Dropped: $2350

iPod 5th Generation 60GB

My iPod 3rd generation died this year, and I was lucky enough to have bought an extended warrenty with Dick Smith Electronics when I initially bought it. I sent it in and got a message back “damaged beyond repair”, and an offer to swap it for a 30GB 5G iPod, I paid $120 extra and got the 60GB.

Cash Dropped: $120

iPod nano 2nd Generation

I only bought this iPod about a month ago when Nike sent me the Nike+iPod sports kit to review and I didn’t have a nano. I love my nano and take it with my everytime I go running now, it’s really a wonderful iPod to have in the collection.

Cash Dropped: $265

Sony DSC-S600

Mid-year a new store called Noel Leeming opened in my town, and they had opening day specials. I queued up at 7AM to get into line to buy a new digital camera. The deal was limited to 5 cameras at $199 and I was lucky enough to get one of them.

Cash Dropped: $199

Canon EOS 350D

I quickly outgrew my point and shoot digital camera and realized photography was a hobby I loved and one I really enjoyed. I decided to upgrade to a DSLR which I could purchase lenses for and continue to pursue and learn photography.

Cash Dropped: $1250

Logitech USB Headset

Earlier this year I was working with MacZOT recording daily podcasts. I wasn’t happy with the audio quality been recorded with my iMac’s built in microphone, so taking Brian Ball’s advice purchased a Logitech USB headset.

Cash Dropped: $90

I have a few purchases planned for 2007 already. I’d like to update my setup around WWDC time (if I have the cash) to a Mac Pro with an Apple Cinema Display. I also want a 250GB External HDD for use with Time Machine, and a Canon 50mm 1.8 lens.

What technology purchases did you make in 2006, and do you have any planned for 2007?

At the moment there’s a lengthy discussion going on at Lifehacker about software that their readers have purchased this year, technology blogger Paul Stamatiou decided he would turn his purchases into a blog post, so I’m doing the same.

Here is a list of the applications I have paid for this year and am planning on purchasing next year. This list is only around a 1/10th of all the software I’ve obtained this year - as a Macguide employee I get lot’s of free software.

Cha-Ching

Cha-Ching is an excellent application to manage your personal finances. It actually makes earning (and spending) even more fun by allowing you to add things such as images and tags to your transactions.

NewsFire

My RSS reader of choice, NewsFire allows you to catch up on your RSS news within a slick, simplistic interface.

Transmit 3.5

I needed a reliable FTP application when competing in the Netguide Web Challenge, since then it’s turned into an application I use daily.

Ecto

I bought Ecto a few months back to help me write blog posts, but have now switched back to using the WordPress Admin due to the ability to preview posts live.

Pukka

I purchased Pukka to help me upload bookmarks to Del.icio.us, but now I am bookmarking with a site called Ma.gnolia, which takes del.icio.us to the next level with many better features.

Apps I Will Be Purchasing In 2007

Adobe CS3 Educational

As I spend most of my time working with images, Photoshop is a must, so CS3 it is.

Microsoft Office 07 Educational

The current version of Microsoft Office (04) runs like a dog on my Intel Mac’s, Office 07 will be a must have upgrade for me as I do so much writing for various publications. (my main writing application will remain Apple Pages).

Tubular

This is one interesting application that communicates with the YouTube back-end and allows you to do things such as download videos to your iPod in one click.

iShowU

I have lots of plans to experiment with screen-casting next year, in my opinion iShowU is the best application to complete this task.

Xtorrent

When Dave Watanabe gets around to releasing a final version of his latest application Xtorrent, I’ll be first in line to purchase the bittorrent application of the future.

Well guys, thats another Christmas gone. I had a great time with my family in Auckland, and also picked up a few cool new toys. Here’s an overview of a few of the tech items I received over the holiday period.

Canon 75-300mm Telephoto Lens

I’ve been wanting a telephoto zoom lens for quite a while now, and yesterday I got one. The lens I received was the Canon EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 III. In more simple terms, it will get me really really close to sporting action.

I cant wait to test out this lens in the upcoming domestic cricket season.

2GB Compact Flash Card

I’ve been shooting with my Canon 350D for the past 2 months using two 128MB CF cards. Yes, I can see you cringing through the screen, it was very difficult having two cards which only held 24 RAW photos in total.

WIth this new card I can hold over 500 JPEG images, or over 225 RAW images. Great for a full days shooting with the telephoto lens at sporting events.

Manfrotto Monopod

This is just like a tripod, except it’s like one tall walking stick. It will be paired and used in conjunction with my new telephoto lens when shooting sports.

It should help me keep my shots steady and sharp. I used it a little yesterday afternoon while shooting some birds, and the results were very satisfying.

As you can see, photography gear was a hit on this years list. (I also picked up a few things like a new bike, Nike+iPod armband, and cash..) There are still a few items I still want to purchase (but my birthday is coming very soon, on Feb 9th). Further down the line, I want to upgrade my computing setup, so the saving starts today.

What did you pick up for Christmas?

As most of you, I have a list of blogs I absoutely love to read, and get excited everytime I see an unread item in one of their feeds in NewsFire.

PhillRyu

Phill Ryu, a well known name in the Mac community. Before his MyDreamApp fame, and after his Menuet fame he began his personal blog, hosting an array of interesting unique articles.

TUAW

If you know Apple, you should know TUAW (short for The Unofficial Apple Weblog)

TUAW is lead by lead blogger Scott McNulty with his crew of over 10 other bloggers delivering up to a dozen posts on everything about the Mac and the iPod daily.

Mike Matas

Although not frequently updated, Mike Matas’s blog provised an ensigntful inside look at what it’s like to work for Apple.

43 Folders

Merlin Mann’s primary blog 43 Folders is a must read for those looking to get their lives, both real and digital sorted. I really enjoy reading his tips to getting yiur email sorted, and from that, my email is now 100% clean and organized.

ProBlogger

If you have a blog, you must check out Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger. Darren usually makes around 15 posts a week to the blog, so it’s a leeching ground for great content.

Darren writes about everything to do with blogging, such as tips, tricks, way’s to make more money, and attract more readers. A must read for any blogger.

5ThirtyOne

5ThirtyOne is the online home of designer Derek Punsalan. Derek has many WordPress themes released to the public for free, and his writing is generally about design, gaming, and Apple.

Paul Stamatiou

Yahoo intern Paul Stamatiou’s blog is all about technology, apple, web 2.0, and his personal life. In my opinion if you could only read one tech blog, it should be Paul’s. He manages to cover so many topics yet keep his audience happy by delivering it all in such a way that there’s something for everyone.

Digital Photography School

If you are wanting to get into and learn more about digital photography, this blog must be added to your RSS reader.

Today an article I wrote for friend Darren Rowse of ProBlogger went live. The article I wrote entitled “5 Essential OSX Blogging Tools” covers the full process of blogging and which apps come in handy for each task.

The tasks are Collect News, Compose, Resize Images, and Announce.

Check out the article here.

Time for another “reader feedback” post as I’d like to get a feel for what you guys like to read about, and equally, what you dont like reading about.

Dont like me posting about design, or blogging? Or absolutely love my visual application reviews? Let me know so I can adapt and give you all what you want!

I’m looking forward to hearing from you (as for the lurkers, here’s a chance to have your say and de-lurk yourself), have a great day guys and girls!

Technorati Tags: blogging

Congratulations to Mark Z who is the winner of our “Comment to win Disco” competition.

Mark, your copy of Disco will be there soon, to all other participants, thanks for entering. It wont be the last contest you see.

Technorati Tags: burning, cd, notes, software

Following in the steps of successful technology blogger and friend Paul Stamatiou I decided to take a few moments to post and request all the lurkers to my blog to show their faces so I can get to know you all!

I’ve been wondering who all the wonderful people are who read my blog, I know many of you just read, but never participate in discussion under the articles in the comment area, so here’s your chance to show your face and meet up with some fellow readers.

Looking forward to hearing from you all, and hopefully creating a few new friendships!

Welcome to the first “User Feedback” post. What I’m hoping to get out of this blog post is to understand my readers (thats you!) a little better, and understand what aspects you like about this blog.

Today’s topic is which kind of posts are better, long (article’s and long lists) or short (like I’ve been posting over the past few days)?

Shorter posts mean I can blog more often, sometimes multiple times a day, where long posts mean I can only deliver content a couple of times a week.

Let me know what you think in the comment form below, you guys/girls are my readers and I want you to enjoy your every click on this blog, so help me help you! Thanks in advance to everyone who provides feedback, and have a good night.

Well, the keynote is a day in the past and we now have a great new professional Macintosh system in the open, the new Mac Pro.

Congratulations to the winners Caitlyn, and Bryan James.

Caitlyn guessed:

• Machine Name: MacPro
• Processor: Two 2.66GHz Xeon aka Woodcrest Stock
• Stock RAM: 1GB
• Stock HDD: 320GB
• Case Change: Yes (dual optical drive)
• Stock Video Card: ATI X1800 Pro
• Blue Ray: Yes HD-DVD: No

Bryan James guessed:

• Machine Name: Mac Pro
• Processor: 2x Xeon @2.66 GHz
• Stock Ram: 1 GB DDR2-667
• Case Change: Almost the same-will now have space for two optical drives
• Stock Video Card: nVidia 7900
• Blue Ray: No
• HD-DVD: No

Real Specs:

• Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon “Woodcrest” processors
• 4MB shared L2 cache per processor
• 1.33GHz dual independent frontside buses
• 1GB memory (667MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC)
• NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics with 256MB memory
• 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive1
• 16x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

Thanks to everyone who entered, this was just a small taste of things to come in the future. Enjoy your software! It will be on the way tomorrow!

WWDC is rearing closer as the hours pass, and the speculation is as high as it can go as to what Apple will uncover at the conference. Will Leopard blow our minds with some amazing new features - and will the MacPro blow us right out of the room with it’s speed?

Keep speculating with our first competition, “Guess The MacPro Specs�. The two people who guess the closest to the real MacPro specifications will walk away with a handful of Mac software each. A handful meaning $116.65!

• Wallet from Waterfall Software
• iClip from Inventive Software
• World Of Where from World Of Worlds Software
• Menuet from Specere Software
• AppZapper
• Awaken from Embraceware Software
• OnTheJob from Stunt Software

To enter, simple post your guess in the comments. You will be guessing for the top of the line model. The two winners will be announced on the 8th of August after the unveiling of the Intel PowerMac replacement. Include these in your answer along with any other notes you feel are important:

Machine Name: Name
Processor: Name/Value
Stock RAM: Value
Stock HDD: Value
Case change: Yes/No
Stock Video Card: Name/Value
Blue Ray: Yes/No
HD-DVD: Yes/No