I did not get to meet him until 1967. By then he was well known.

People forget, they won't know where they are going, if they don't know where they came from. Karsh approached portraits in his own way. He spent time looking for the inner person he wanted to capture. Then he used light to paint the image. He spent time on making sure his lighting drew out that inner person he wanted to show. The lighting styles he used are still followed by many today. We learn from the past . It is a good idea to embrace experience whenever we can.

digiKam is another open source package

I do metal printing all the time. The process is dye sublimation. It will give you great prints but you have to keep a strong QC on your systems. There are a lot of things that can go wrong. The inks, press temperature, press pressure, pressing time, the humidity all affect the transfer paper and the material you are transferring to, plus add in everything that can go wrong with a normal printer and a tight QC is a must. When everything is working correctly then the prints are great.

I shoot from trains every year. Just make a foam lens hood. Cut a square/rectangular piece of foam about 6" x 6", Cut a hole in the center to fit your lens, taper the hole and paint it black. Put the foam right against the glass, use a fast shutter speed to stop motion, and have fun! The foam handles train vibrations and the black stops reflections. The taper lets you swing the camera. It doesn't not have to be cute, it just has to work, and it can be made from scraps and cost nothing.

You do not need a fancy setup to photograph hummingbirds. You need patience, planning and a little luck. My preferred lens is Nikon 28-105 in macro mode on a Nikon D600. I use a remote trigger so I can set up the photo I want and then sit back from the camera. I try to use natural light whenever possible but I do use a white reflector (a scrap of gator board) to add light to the underside of the bird.. I use nectar to get the birds to feed where I set up, but sometimes I know what flower the bird wants to feed on and it is not needed. My advice: Keep your setup simple and remember there is no single way for everyone. Try different things and see what works for you. The photo posted was taken without the flower baited and with the camera 10 inches from the bird. ISO 1000, shutter 1250th apt f/8

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I do not usually post anything: I just like to see what others are doing. In this case I will give some advice. To photograph hummingbirds you do not need to make a big elaborate setup. You do not need a super long lens. You need patience and planning. The equipment I use the most for hummingbirds is a tripod, good camera (I use a Nikon D600), macro lens and a remote trigger. We have been attracting the birds with plants and feeders. We encourage them to go to single flowers with sugar water then watch the bird's behavior. Plan out the photo you want and keep the background simple.
Set up your camera and remote trigger (use all manual mode – focus and exposure) and wait.
Use burst with the shutter. The birds will get used to the sound of the camera. If I need to add light to areas of the photo I use a white board to reflect light. This photo is at 1/1200. f/7.1. ISO 1600. The lens is a 28-105 set on macro and is about 10 inches from the flower. One piece of white board under the bird for a reflector – no flash. My wife likes to use a longer lens but then more care is needed to keep the background from being cluttered.

The SR-71 is indeed a fast craft but it was not the first or the fastest of its kind. That would be the Oxcart A-12. It was rated at MACH 3.5 while the SR_71 is MACH 3.2 and the operational ceiling was 95,000' vs 85,000 '