2006-01-15

Canon Powershot S2 IS

I have never been a *camera person* I have traveled all over the country and several parts of the world without a camera. Been to countless occasions, events, places... 'what no pictures? You went to Thailand without a camera? New Years eve in Hawaii, Times Square, Pasadena, Las Vegas? Bourbon Street, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Mexico?' - No sorry, no pictures. 'Florida, Oregon, Utah, West Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado...' Pictures for what? Who would want to see them was my thinking.

Then about a year ago I decided to start taking pictures of all the golf courses I play. Not of people or golf swings but the courses. That way if someone went to play that course they could see what it looked like. So I Picked up a cheapo ebay camera and threw it in my golf bag. After several months and a lot of golf, I had quite a collection of local golf course pictures. But I started realizing that after all the effort to take the pictures, edit them, crop out the people, and upload them - they all looked crummy. Plus, my cheap camera had started taking progressively worse pictures.

It was around that time that I surfed over to Insta Marv's golf blog and he had just put up at the top of his blog an incredible picture of an eagle that he took.

I thought to myself that there was no way I could get pictures that clear and crisp and decided right then to get a better camera.

What did I get? After a thorough search of the triple dub, I chose the Canon PowerShot S2 IS

It was around $500.

There may be better cameras out there and I don't want to start a flame war about Nikon v Canon or whatever but for me this camera is absolutely fantastic. All the bells and whistles.

The day I got it, I opened the box in my car while sitting in the parking lot of Angeles National Golf Course in Sunland, CA.

I was there to play a round of golf with my man Grouchy Golf. Somewhere during the round he was all 'nice camera' and I was like 'yeah, no idea what all the buttons are for...'

That's me with the shadow that looks like a wide Darth Vader and to the left is Grouchy's shadow.. Fun course by the way - neither of us had played it before - the strategy was just to hit a drive into the distance forward and then see if your ball was in play

Here is a skinny Darth

It took some great pictures though right from the start and if you look at that golf courses page, which is listed by when I took the pictures, the pictures get better and better for each golf course.

I have since taken around 2000 pictures with it.

I discovered that my favorite pictures are of wildlife on the golf courses - especially birds.

Here are the birds and miscellaneous stuff I've been lucky enough to catch a picture of while playing golf:

continue reading and see the pictures... CLICK HERE

Squirrel at Calabasas CC. Click on the picture for a close up of this little guy.

Swarm of bees

17th hole lake at Calabasas Country Club

Geese at Westlake Golf course

Rabbits at Sunset Hills Country Club

Not sure what kind of bird this is, might be a red tailed hawk or a vulture. Always try to keep moving if there are vultures around ;) Moorpark CC.

These hawks hover over an area for about 30 seconds and then either fly away and hover somewhere else or dive down on something
Taken at Moorpark Country Club ( a couple more there )

Deer sighting at Elkins Ranch a little blurred because I was zoomed all the way and then cropped out the outside 90% of the picture (same deal with that hawk picture up above this one)

Prehistoric beast hanging out in the shadows near the OB stakes - Simi Hills

Some Black Crows at Simi

Some sort of something bird here walking around Big V

13th at Valencia Country Club A practice swing shadow

The Tenth hole at Tierra Rejada Golf Club:

log spanning the hillsides in the distance

Zooming in on the log

More Zoom just for the fun of it..

An Egret walking around Lindero CC

Same bird giving me the *side eye* like they all do. This was taken with me standing on the other side of the fairway -why I love my camera.

These little birds buzz around the course real low to the ground. Not sure what kind they are. Bummer I never got one in flight even though I tried. They were at The SCGA Golf Course

Bull frogs all dropped into the water before I got the shot.. They were huge - like a foot long

Some sort of bird wondering what to do about the gale force winds we had that day at Marshallia Ranch

Some deer hanging around Marshallia

Goodbye deer

Another deer sighting off the 16th hole at Rancho San Marcos

Bird in a tree Alisal Ranch third hole.

Alisal Woodpecker doing its thing.

Little bird giving me the side eye

Same bird. You can click on this picture to get a close up

Been trying to get a shot of my favorite bird - a roadrunner. Have had a few chances at Moorpark CC but always miss...

Oh yeah, can't forget this one - rare in these parts but often seen on golf courses in Utah:

The mediaguru eagle

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