Iowa City Real Estate Blog: September 2010

After a really wet summer we are finally getting some back to back days of sunshine in Coralville and Iowa City. Couldn't resist getting out there this week with my brand new Canon T2i to take some shots of my favorite park in Coralville - North Ridge Park. I know all parks are considered green. What makes this one special is that when they designed it they paid even more attention than usual to the environment with the use of sustainable choices. The North Ridge Pavilion is available to rent all year round. You can find information about that on the City of Coralville website.

As you can tell from the water and the water features, it was a pretty windy day... Nothing new for Iowa. My family lives on the coast in Wales. I used to think there were some pretty fierce winds there - That was before I came to Iowa!

Friday was a big day in Coralville as we celebrated all things Hawkeye prior to the first Hawkeye game of the season on Saturday. FryFest 2010 was a huge success. Coralville will show up in the next Guiness Book of Records as they broke the Hokey Pokey record with more than 7,000 people doing the Hokey Pokey at Fry Fest on Friday evening. I wasn't there for that. To be totally honest I am not a huge fan of crowds. I was there earlier in the day for the show and shine car show. Talked to Fred who is selling his MINI Cooper Clubman. (Hawkeye yellow no less). Also spoke to the owner of the Corvette who had just gotten back from vacation in Kensington, UK. Good thing I'm going over the good old Blighty next week otherwise I might have gotten a bit homesick!

This was my very first time out with my new Canon T2i and here are some of the photos I took. I have some learning to do of course, but I think for a first try they're not half bad.

The car show at FryFest offered the perfect opportunity to go out and "test drive" my new Canon T2i. All those pretty shiny cars, I was absolutely spoiled for choice! These are the two that really caught my eye. Believe it or not, looking down the line of cars on show, it was the Mini Cooper that positively jumped out at you. Apparently Hawkeye Yellow trumps Corvette Red when it comes to sticking out in a crowd! (And I am a Prince fan. The Red Corvette was definitely not lost on me). Fred was obliging enough to pose for me for this photo. His Mini Clubman is up for sale and if you'd like to know more about that you can check it out on Craigslist.

Now onto my first thoughts about my Canon T2i. These shots are straight from the camera with no post editing done. The sun went behind a cloud for that first photo. I probably could have brightened it up, but I skipped that to show what great shots come with very little effort. I'm not totally thrilled with the somewhat blurry background, but considering these were my first shots with a new camera I should probably cut myself some slack. If you've got any tips for me feel free to leave them in the comments. I've been a point and shoot gal up to now. I can do with all the help I can get!