Outdoor time on the farm

Rosie

Ragano

Vanna

My bestest birthday present

My lovely husband and his mom got me this beautiful camera for my birthday - a Nikon D3000!

Flower power

While waiting for some cops to leave a Torrington man's house with (possible) seized shotguns Tuesday evening, I amused myself by taking photos of some pretty flowers in a garden across the street.

Playing the blonde card

Being blonde isn't always a bad thing.

Two nights ago, our photographer had left for the night and we just heard over the police scanner that a bad accident had happened. I sent our Torrington reporter out with the point-and-shoot newsroom camera.

A few minutes later, we got more details. Some guy in a pick-up truck had taken down two utility poles and was trapped in his car because the wires were still live and nobody could go near him.

I ran into the photo room, grabbed the camera bag and rushed out.

Once I got to the scene - it was almost 8 p.m. - I struggled to get the bag over my shoulder and half-ran towards the roped-off area with the bag dangling against my knees (our photographer is really tall). I pulled the Nikon out, fiddled with some buttons to get it on, and then started shooting.

Right next to me was a bearded man with a similar camera but a longer lens. I looked in the bag and found a telephoto lens, bent down on the ground to disassemble the camera, then tried to screw the bigger lens on.

Oh, you have the same camera as I do," the competitor noted.

"Uh, ok," I said. "But I don't know how to use it!"

The lens finally snapped on. I tried taking another couple of photos. They were better - closer - but still really dark.

"They're too dark!" I whined. "I'm not a photographer. I don't know what I'm doing!"

The beardman calmly hung his Nikon over his left shoulder and reached out to grab mine. As he started setting the shutter speed, I waived my arms in the air.

"Our photographer left!" I said, with a slight degree of desperation.

"Here you go," he said and handed me back the camera. "You're all set."

I got my shots and went back to the paper. Then, I got a call about the murder. Luckily, it was too dark to even try to get anymore photos.

Another 'nudity' debate

The above pictures of Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana, has caused another outburst in the U.S.

After Annie Leibovitz' artistic pieces were published in Vanity Fair, Cyrus publicly proclaimed she was "embarrased" and critics said the teen idol shows too much skin. The Disney Channel, who sponsors the Hannah Montana act, was not pleased. Cyrus declined a movie premiere, I think it was, and apologized to her fans if she gave the wrong image.

Granted Cyrus looks like an abused child in the photo on the right, but what skin is she showing that wouldn't otherwise be seen when wearing a bathing suit?

Again, this brings up the nudity issue that I've touched on before. Shoulders, apparently, are now dirty as well. As are bare backs.

In order to view skin, you must be 18. In order to show it, you must be over 21. Otherwise you are "exposing" yourself or the media is taking advantage of you to sell papers.

Perhaps the Academy Awards ceremony need to be X-rated from now on? Just think about all those low-cut gowns...

We live in an art gallery