I’ve wanted a digital SLR for a long time. Years, actually. And since I’d been acquiring a small number of manual focus Nikon lenses for my “Frankencamera” movie camera system, I figured it was finally time to take the plunge.

This was taken with natural light and no reflectors or diffusers or anything. Just me and this refurbished Nikon D80 and a manual 50mm lens from the 1970s. Everything’s set to manual… which means it is a bit harder to take good pix, but the good pix tend to look way better than anything shot on “auto”.

I’m using this camera to learn more about composition, framing, light- all that useful cinematography stuff I was supposed to learn at UCLA. But I am also using it to help myself get a new perspective on Los Angeles. Sometimes a new perspective is a damn fine thing.

Click the pic to see it bigger.