For whatever it's worth...

In August of 1982, I went on a whirlwind tour of Europe with about a dozen people from my small high school in Central Texas. I'm talking 9 countries in 12 days. The student tour company assigned us our own small bus and driver.

One of the stops we made was at Dachau, outside of Munich. To this day (30+ yrs later), I can close my eyes and still picture (and smell) the crematorium. It will effect you like nothing else. I credit the experience as a signpost point of maturity in my life; one of the things that signaled the end of childhood innocence, and the realization of what the world can truly contain. It was also one of the reasons that I later joined the military after college - to fight that evil if necessary.

As to a camera, I regret that I did not have one with me. In my opinion, the camps should be recorded and viewed / shown as much as possible to spread the awareness. To ensure that as many people as possible know what occurred there - and to prevent it from happening again.

Knowledge is power.

-Shoot an image
-Open it in Picasa
-Click the small "i" icon
-scroll down in window with metadata info
-shutter count is second from last line

Reminds me of a Ken Rockwell comparison - of photography to golf...

*It takes some specialized equipment
*It is something that you can train your whole life for - and you MIGHT get pretty good at it
*It constantly humbles you
*And...if you can get someone to pay you to do it - you are DAMN lucky!

:-)

Having spent a good amount of time at the Texas Gulf Coast...this pic reminded me of a pelican scene I witnessed years ago. It was apparently a young pelican just learning to skim the wavetops like this picture subject. He saw something (I'm guessing a tasty morsel)in the water that he wanted, and dipped his bill in to snatch it - on the fly. I'm guessing that he misgauged his speed, because he literally flipped in mid-air and smacked down on his back, hard! He righted himself, shook his head (as if to say da**!), then took off again. :-D

I'm guessing that this would be the human equivalent of tripping on a crack in the sidewalk, falling down...and then getting up to see if anyone saw you do it.

Pretty Funny!

Here in North Texas, we actually have a large power provider that has produced a radio commercial where the announcer tells how to bake cookies on your dashboard in the summer months!

I have had good results leaving a camera in the vehicle (yes, I'm s stereotypical Texan, and I DO drive a pickup) in a small cooler without any ice. The cooler provides enough insulation to protect the camera from the heat, as well as disguises it from any "ne'er do wells" looking to smash and grab.

And can I get a whoop, whoop for fall temps here soon? :-)

Yep! I saw that Strobist article...and sent it to the old pro that gave me the idea! :-)

To steal the quote from Top Gun..."I FEEL the need...the need for SPEED"!

Yep - Nifty Fifty in other words.

Another option might be to gaffer tape a gridded flash to the top of the lens hood. The bonus of this is that the light is more directed / focused, and therefore less of a distraction to players on the field. I've tried this now and then and had good success.