They call it a "non-contest" event, but it was basically a practice session for invited surfers last Monday morning at Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay, site of the actual Mavericks surf contest whenever it happens (window is until Feb. 28). Nice swells on Monday -- maybe 20-25 feet compared to 30-40 feet when the contest happens, that I photographed from the Queen of Hearts charter boat.

I like Ken's advice, but would add that you should rent a lens here and there to experiment without going broke or buying something you don't need or use.

aperture priority has its place, but not for action photos. It never seems to get the shutter speed up high enough, has been my experience

I would suggest pitching a first-person story and accompanying photos to an LA-based music or feature magazine, and start there. Look at selling the photos later, after you have a published story in hand. It's a wonderful story; one that I would certainly want to read.

yes, I back up to several places, including a full backup in Photos

I know there have been many discussions here over the years about Apple's Aperture program (the former Lightroom competitor), which hasn't been updated or supported by Apple since 2014. Most discussions have been about migrating to Photos or Lightroom, etc., but I know there are holdovers like myself who found the ease and familiarity of the program's organizational structure unmatched anywhere else. And I've hung on, even though Aperture was getting more and more funky - trouble shutting down, having to rebuild it every few weeks, etc. With the release of High Sierra, however, I've found Aperture to be a hundred times more stable for me and seems to be running better than before. And my main library holds around 40,000 photos. Anyone else having the same experience?

Aperture still works fine; maybe better than with older versions . . .

check out the Amazon Basics sling bag. It's under $25, and I've found it quite useful to carry my 300mm 2.8, plus you can include another camera and lens if needed.

$149 shipped.

This is a great way to enter the Fisheye world with this super sharp and easy to use fixed, manual focus 8 mm 1:3.5 lens. It is in very good shape, and comes with both lens caps. Check out the lens here, as well as a photo taken with the actual lens in March 2016 at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.

where in Santa Cruz were these taken? I was in Capitola a few weeks ago and caught both good-sized Monarchs and Painted ladies (and a Buckeye) along Soquel Creek, though not in clusters like you got!

was extremely fortunate I was able to shoot Tom Petty's Sept. 1 show at Sacramento's Golden 1 Center for the Sacramento Press. I've seen and reviewed him around 10 times through the years (since 1980) but this experience was by far the most memorable, especially since he died unexpectedly a month later. He was definitely one of my favorites and was as good as ever until the end.

Best as I can tell, there's been nothing announced on this. Winners were supposed to be notified on July 14, 2017. Seems strange.
http://faces.littleleague.org/rules.html

yep, great lens, definitely worth $1,500 new and from Canon direct. I wouldn't bother with used for a few hundred bucks less

the SL1 was my first dslr and I still have it, even though I now have a couple of upgrades. It's size makes it a good choice to throw in your bag as an extra if needed, or to get into a show or sporting event, etc. It's a very capable camera for a beginner, I think, since virtually every Canon lens will work with it.

shot this with the original non-IS Canon 300mm with a 2x teleconverter attached, on a monopod. It was the first time I had used the 2x teleconverter with that lens