What a busy month regarding photography. I took over 3000 images and I´m not a pro. I discovered that January is usually the month where I took the most images. Why? There are a couple of reasons: 1. Normally I have a couple of days off around new years eve. 2. My birthday is in January and I take this day off ( I tradition I started on my 30th birthday ). 3. Sometimes we do our ski holiday in January which means another week away from work. And last but not least: I like the winter. And in Austria the winter is on it´s peak in January where the temperatures are low and chance to have some snow is very high. This year there is another reason as well. I have a new camera and that´s why I spend almost all of my spare time shooting pictures.

As I already mentioned: I love the winter! The stronger - the better. This winter is really strong. Especially January brought tons of snow and a strong northeasterly wind brought temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius directly from Russia.

So why this indoor picture? Did I stay inside the whole time because of the cold weather? No - no way! This images was taken in my holiday where the weather was terrible ( it was gray with lots of rain in the first week of this year ). On the first day at work ( on the 9th of January ) we saw the sun for the first time on 2006! Very nice - Thank you very much! When it´s gray and rainy there is really no way to go out and enjoy photography ( I do this only in Scotland and Ireland ). So I called a friend to meet in the Museum of Natural History to take some images there. My friend, Harald ( the lumberjack in the image above ) works at the museum as a research scientist and that´s the reason why we were allowed to use our tripods in the museum. My new Nikon D200 performed once again great and suprised my with it´s brilliant Auto-WB and exposure.

In the museum I used only one lens: the AF-S 4/12-24DX. For some reason I haven´t used this lens very much in the past - you just have to check my POMs and you will realize that none of them was taken with it. Now I love this lens! It works great on the D200 and I found out two things that this lens really needs: 1. To be shot at f8 or f11 and 2. to be used with great care and because of this it is best to use it on a tripod. Why? If you shoot sloppy with this lens or use it wide open you won´t be able to get the best out of it. Shoot the lens at f4 or f5.6 and you will never discover how sharp it is. Use it without a tripod or tilt it even slightly and you will hardly be able to get straight lines. This lens is really great and I´m happy that I haven´t sold it to buy me a 2.8/17-55DX. There is a lot of difference between 12mm and 17mm. Here is another shot taken with it. It´s a handheld selfportraiture that proves that I was out even at the coldest days in this January and enjoyed photography.

settings for the museum shot: A-Mode, 5sec@f11, 100 ASA, Auto-WB, AF-S 12-24DX on 12mm, Gitzo G1258