My walkaround point and shoot is a Canon SX710 and I love it. There probably are newer versions, but mine is great.

Have her students write short essays about their pictures. That technique gets them to look at their work in an analytical way, especially if they write about why they took a particular shot.

As a published author with lots of experience, I’d say the answer depends entirely on the second publisher. You own the writing and you can do anything you want to with it, including paying for the official copyright. But a publisher also has the option of accepting or declining. Just be up front with prior use of writing.

I know several excellent photographers who take great pics and do serious post-processing. They all seem to use 1.4 teleconverters, when they use them. I use 2.0 converters, but wonder if there is some reason these other folks use 1.4 (maybe better focusing, less distortion, etc.)?

I usually shoot both and store everything on a big (e.g., 4TB) hard drive. I sort by file type, scan the jpgs, decide which ones I want to mess with, open them in Photoshop, and save the chosen ones as tiff files, selecting “none” when asked about compression. The tiff format files don’t lose information when saved, or so I assume. Depending on what I want to do later, I’ll save the raw files that accompany the jpg/tiff versions. Eventually I delete a bunch of non-used files. The tiff files work fine with programs such as Topaz Sharpening AI.

Given the supply chain, you might wait a long time for the Z9 and the really popular 100-400 lens. We were in Costa Rica and my reaction is that your travel guide will probably have more impact on your photos than a new camera would. I have a Z7-2 and am happy with it, but it’s not making me a far better photographer; one major plus is that the sensor allows more serious cropping than I would be able to do with my other cameras.

Those are really nice, especially through glass.

That’s an excellent question. I don’t have a definitive answer, but I’m a writer and a few years ago published a fiction piece that involved two university athletic teams. I had extensive correspondence with both athletic departments and the bottom line was “don’t use our logo.” Another of my books used a drawing of a football stadium and legal folks at the university said it’s a public building so go ahead, no restrictions on the stadium image.

The folks I know who bought, and now have them, are one professional and three exceedingly serious and skillful “amateur” photographers. The one non-pro who just came back from Africa has spectacular photos and high praise for the camera.

I use Wondershare/Filmora and am happy with it, but I’m an amateur. Pinnacle Movie Box is way down on my list.

Kevin - The Eastern State Penitentiary is a reasonably important one relative to the history of incarceration in the US. I'm currently working on a book--a professional biography of a person who trains prison staff members around the world--and in the chance that we might have to self-publish this one, I'm always looking for potential cover images. So if you're at all willing to be a possible contributor in that regard, let me know via personal message on UHH. I'll send you an e-mail contact. Thanks! JJ

The "hospital" museum in St. Joseph, Missouri, is also an eye-opening stop for those so inclined.

Thanks for the great pics. As a biologist who's published several papers on the parasites of damselflies, (with my students as senior authors!) I really appreciate the contribution, especially of members of that family.

My go-to travel camera, especially when I don't have control over the travel and photo conditions, is a Canon SX50 (the newest version is, I believe, and SX70). I'm actually a Nikon user, with both DX and FX equipment, but that Canon SX50 is by far the most flexible one I have, mainly because of the zoom and handling ease. I keep it set on the athlete icon to control the auto focus a little bit. Here's a demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJJ0YLmm6dQ

Depends entirely on how much control I have over the travel and photography conditions. With truly severe weight restrictions, and no control whatsoever over photography conditions, e.g., on a couple of African trips, a Costa Rica trip, etc., I carry a Canon SX50 with Canon SX710 as backup (there are newer versions of both), but with lots of cards and backup batteries plus chargers. When I'm driving and have complete control over everything, I take all my toys: the above cameras, plus Nikons (D3400 and D610), and all the lenses, including the Sigma 150-600mm, and a solid tripod.