I'm sailing away...a photo post

I had a great day sailing and playing games and taking pictures. Now I have sunburn on my face and arms and my bed is calling me.

not to toot my own horn... (updated)

okay, maybe there's a little personal horn tooting going on...but I've been taking some good photos lately and it's got me itching to buy a new camera. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my camera. It has yet to do me wrong. Frankly, I would marry that camera if it were legal to marry inanimate objects.

Here are my favorite features on my camera (which I found after using my sister's camera, which is a slightly earlier model of the same camera):

• that back screen flips out and around so you can see yourself when you take a picture. perfect for taking pictures with small children, taking pictures of yourself when there is no one to ask (like on the streets of Paris), and playing the Camera Game with friends.
• the zoom is great - it let me take this picture...

• it takes pretty good video. not great, but very useful.
  

What I'm talking about getting now is another camera. A digital semi-profesh camera with a good flash and a big ol' honkin' lens. I have been wanting to work more on my photography and that would be the key to me getting some good shots. I have an automatic/manual film Nikon, but it needs repairing and, really, I don't think I could handle paying for film photos (I don't think I have the patience for it either - those times are long gone). I want to take some time and photograph the scenery - but I want to be able to immediately judge those photos.

**Doug commented about cameras and mentioned the new Canon (look at the link above), which I was actually looking at. I saw a couple of the Canons when I was shopping for the Canon I have now, but didn't have the extra money at the time to purchase the higher end models. But, like I said, I am extremely happy with my camera, best camera I have ever used. I'm a big Canon fan. So it looks like the Rebel XSi is taking the number one spot on my list of choices.

So there's another big ticket item for my wish list.