On the last day of our vacation in Atlanta we went out to Allatoona Lake for a day of fun on the water. Activities included jet skiing, water skiing, kneeboarding, and extreme relaxing.

The second day of my summer vacation to Atlanta the unanimous decision was made to have some mud-crawling, crack-squeezing, tunnel exploring fun at PettyJohns Cave in the northwest corner of Georgia. We picked up a couple of disposable cameras for the adventure, donned our gear, and ventured into the depths.

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For my 2009 summer vacation I spent a week in Atlanta visiting my cousin and his family for a week filled with climbing and other adventurous activities. After getting into town late Friday night, we decided to hang around the house on Saturday and do some climbing on the rock wall Chris built into his rec room.

Macro photography is something that has interested me for a long time. However, to even consider oneself an amateur macro photographer requires a small investment in the right equipment, something I had been unable to afford… until now!

I prefer to buy Nikon lenses for my Nikon D80 (for a number of reasons that I won’t get into here), and had narrowed my search for a macro lens down to 2 that Nikon offered: the 60mm Micro-Nikkor and the 105mm Micro-Nikkor.

I went to Ace Photo (the only local photography shop that seems to know what they are talking about), hoping I could look at both of my options. They had unfortunately sold out of the 60mm lens, but I was able to try out the 105mm lens. In short, I had to have it, and since I hadn’t splurged on any camera gear for nearly two years, I decided to break the bank and purchase the AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens (and 62mm UV filter).

I haven’t gotten much of a chance yet to really learn the lens inside and out (work piled up and I’m moving in a week!), but I’m really looking forward to putting this lens through its paces and seeing what it is capable of.

Spent some time on Saturday creating a lightbox to take photos in. It is constructed entirely of white foamboard and glue, and allows me to use four lights to light a subject. Here are some of the (better) resulting photos.

Just a couple of photos from the fireworks show we got to enjoy down in Richmond.