I'm really glad I found this site, which has provided me with countless sums of invaluable information in just the two weeks or so I've been lurking around. I came into the photography world a little backwards, in that I was a newspaper reporter right out of college, where I toiled for 10 years at a daily newspaper that is no longer with us (The Sacramento Union). In my years in government public affairs, which has taken me to some very interesting places, often blind dumb luck got some of my photographs published. But I want to actually know what I'm doing, and as I ponder retirement with a little business plan in mind, I've jumped in with both feet, and in the year or so I've owned a DSLR I've been published in several (mostly non-paying) publications, with mixed results. But I've learned a lot (like how to straighten photos), had a ball, and earned a press pass to some great sports venues, such as AT&T Park in San Francisco. Feel free to check out the Photography section of my web site containing a good portion of my work over the years, as I look forward to continue to pursue this obsession that I know I'll never master.
http://www.stevemartarano.com/Martaranos_archives/Photography.html