With great power comes great responsibility, or so says Madame P. And after saying so to the Colonel, who was about to meet with the Martian to reveal what he'd learned from Omi, she apologized, whispered a quick incantation, and *POOF* turned him into a frog.

She headed straightway to the Martian's office and told him that, during his interrogation, the Colonel discovered Omi had been working as a double agent, had only passed along to the Nanookians disinformation regarding the upcoming invasion of Rhode Island. His feeling was that Omi should be immediately pardoned, returned to duty, and, in fact, given a commendation and a raise in salary for her efforts on the Ministry's behalf.

The Martian appeared dubious, and asked why the Colonel hadn't come himself to explain the situation.

She said that Omi, in exchange for her own information, had learned of Nanookian plans for an impending attack on the Northern Division's massive Catnip Works factory complex. The Colonel, as commander of Seal Team 9-Lives, felt he would be urgently needed back home, sent his apologies for the hasty exit and would be sending a full report when time permitted.

The Martian asked if Omi had revealed who had set up the operation, who her controller in the Ministry was. Madame P shrugged, said the Colonel, if he knew, hadn't told her, but it would undoubtedly be in his report.

The Martian looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded, said Omi could be returned to duty, and that he'd write up a commendation for her. But no raise.

Madame P left his office, an odd smile on her face.

Another set of 911 First Responders photographs. This incident was a few days ago when I responded to a fully engulfed garage fire. Because the fire was in a part of the county where there were no nearby hydrants, Tanker trucks and a "mutual aid" call was made to the surrounding city fire companies to assist the volunteer department. Luckily there were no injuries but the garage, which had a car and tractor inside, were totally destroyed.Theses photographs, again, display the dedication and courage of our First Responders. I included color as well as black & white photos. These were all shot with available light, ISO 4000, NIKON D5, NIKON 80mm-200mm AF-S 2.8 and a NIKON 24mm-70mm AF-S 2.8.

Hi there, thank you for your time and advice in advance. I have loved photography all my life, but now wanting to take it seriously and take professional portraits of families on the side, ......preferably - not do weddings, too stressful, not ready, even though I have been asked to, I know my limits! I have been researching and watching tutorials for a couple of weeks, very overwhelming for me, but learning and grasping slowly, so very much to learn, how to use manual and editing is what I need to learn the most. I have a point and shoot Sony, which I love and so many tell me to please start taking pics, even have a few clients set up for practice, but I am no where near where I need to be professionally, I just know how to pose subjects and be aware of location, for I used to own a boutique and would go on countless photo shoots with our local professionals, so I have learned a lot on the subject and posing side. With all that being said, my family and I are going to Biggs Camera in Charlotte on Friday just to see and feel all the cameras out there and what they have to offer. My Sony, for an old point and shoot does extremely well, but I see that everyone mostly talks about Nikon and Canon, does anyone shoot professionally with a Sony and find that it does everything they want it to do, or should I invest in a Nikon or Cannon? My niece let me borrow her very inexpensive Canon and I do not like it, my Sony takes better pics every single time! Budget, preferably under $1000 for everything or even less, may just look and then try to buy used elsewhere, advice on this would be great too, love you guys and thanks for letting me in your little circle of learning, I will be here a while...lol.....I think a long while. This is a pic I took of my beautiful daughter for her graduation invites, I like it, but now that I am doing research, I see that I could do so much better with a better camera and better editing, just used my Sony point and shoot with old editing that was already on my computer in JPG.......I still don't even know how to shoot and download in raw, but I am going to learn! Never even heard of it till a few weeks ago! So please be kind....lol

Anyone who has read my initial post knows I love the state I live in. But I have also loved visiting other places, backpacking the Appellation Trail, Glacier NP, Peru, backpacking the Tetons,Washington DC, Alaska, Just to name a few. There are several places on my bucket list, for example, Everglades, rolling hills of the mid west, and Dakotas, that said right now my top two places would be north east states in the fall, and Antelope Canyon AZ. (don't think I will ever make the Wave, odds are too high and I have never been that lucky playing the power ball lottery). A lot of people on this site have done some traveling, whether you have or not, what would a realistic or semi realistic for your bucket list destination be to photograph?