Uni exams finished last Friday, thankfully. I've now got the time to get out there with my camera and start taking some photos!

The plan is to work enough during the uni mid year break so i can afford a new lens for my camera (Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM) which will give me a far, far better range and optical quality than the included kit lens (EF-S 18-55mm), which tends to be very soft, especially around the edges. The 50mm EF has stayed on my camera most of the time, over the 18-55. It has simple Gaussian optics. For a $150 lens, I really cant complain at all. I shot a 21st with it (samples up in scraps), and most of the photos were brilliant, even at ISO 800 and F2. I think I've finally got 'in the dark' operation of my EOS350D, after a month and a bit of ownership.

Photography trips/ideas I’ve got in mind for the break:

*That boat shed on Stirling Highway. I know, I know, it's the most heavily photographed boat shed in the southern hemisphere, but it's location just lends itself to good composition.

*Walk around the UWA campus and do some architecture shots. UWA campus rocks my world, profusely.

*Freshwater Bay/Peppermint Grove. Plenty of interesting sites, and some lovely older houses. Easy to do shots of yachts out on the bay.

*Sunset at Cottesloe beach looking south towards the Indiana Tea House.

*Long exposure at night of after mentioned tea house.

*Long exposure of Lake Monger at night.

*Some good storm photography (if we get a good lightning storm)

*It's been done hundreds of times before, but Kings Park.

*Get up into the hills (Mundaring, etc). Shots back towards Perth, and maybe some stuff around the dams.

*Random walks through the city, with the 28-135 on the camera, after I procure it.

*The Zoo?

And if you're a uni student on break, reading this, and you love photography, get out there now, take photos, while you can