Where Have I Been? In Bliss.

Literally, the band.
Figuratively, my new camera.

The unknown scares me sometimes, and all the research in the world can't replace concrete results under my particular operating conditions. It's a given that my new camera will kick ass when I'm walking around in the sunshine, but in a dark nightclub with variable light sources at variable distances...?

Let's just say that I'm really happy right now.

Under a tiny 12volt lamp that's the same as most older car's interior dome light, 200mm-e and 1/30th of a second handheld, both the image stabilization and iso1600 do a good job here. Noisy, but sharp.

At 27mm-e this is the most blatantly wide-angle shot I have ever taken.

Being forced to stay with 1/30 shutter speed was a bit of a let-down due to my two lenses being on the "slow" side, but it always worked artistically when a blurred drumstick was appropriate and again, having IS means that I get more sharp results to choose from.

There was an added bonus from the club showing a few of my older photos on a TV over the stage all night. Sometimes it helped my new shots, and it made me feel good.

The new camera is a real pleasure to use and I'm enjoying the heck out of trying to push the envelope whenever possible.
But believe it or not, after 10 days I haven't gone much past 300 exposures.
A 3-day trip to the hurricane-damaged Rio Grande Valley only yielded 28 photos, mostly indoor snapshots.
A lot of things are going through my head, but forcing myself to shoot art isn't among them.
I just take it as it comes.
BLISS results were a major concern that I can stop worrying about now, so I'll be moving-on to the next phase of experiments.
If I get even half as many 'keepers' I'll be happy.