Without much study of my new dslr, I powered it up after charging the battery and went for a walk in the park during the golden hour in Albuquerque, starting  at approximately 4:45 PM. My initial shots were outdoors, moving through the focal distances on the 18-135mm lens. Once the sun set, I went inside and took some spontaneous portrait-ranged shots by both pushing the ISO levels up, as well as with use of the pop up flash.

This morning I was up before sunrise; tried some work at the widest focal range.

I have easily determined that A) I do want a tripod and a hot shoe/slave flash and B) I need to keep reading the camera manual to gain better fluency in the functions and versatility the equipment offers. We are planning to visit a very scenic location for Thanksgiving, and I don’t want to blow the opportunity.