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The Complete Photographer
Dead links are works in progress, and should give some idea of what I wish to do with this section.


The Complete Canon photographer Going Pro
Links Digital vs Film
The Complete Digital Photographer The Complete Film Photographer
The Basics Digital techniques
Lenses Night Photography
Panoramic photos Stereo Photography
    F stops, shutter speeds, EV values, and depth of focus. These terms, and a myriad of others are all used to render into technical jargon, the simple act of gathering a light image and projecting  it somewhere, to be recorded for safe keeping. Though digital photography is getting cheap enough, and easy enough for everyone, there are still some advantages to the use of film. Film is permanent, generally has better resolution, a higher contrast range, and better color depth; all of these things may change, in time, but for now they are facts. To even come close to the quality of film takes a very expensive digital camera. Digital cameras are more immediate, do not require film, or developing, and digital images can be manipulated much more easily in a computer, than film images can be in a darkroom. Regardless of which way you go, the basic concepts of composition, exposure, perspective, and display, still apply.
    Probably the most important concept to keep in mind, is the idea of using a system approach to photography. Every piece of equipment should have a purpose. The gear of a photographer will fit the type of photographs being taken. Sports photographers need fast lenses, wedding photographers live by compact gear, and by their high speed flash units, wildlife photographers love their telephotos, while architectural photographers swear by their tilt and pan lenses (or by their view cameras). The point is to make every piece of gear perform a function, so that the smallest possible kit can be used. This is not just a matter of economics, but of mobility. Even if you could purchase every lens and piece of gear ever made, you would have a very hard time putting it to use, if you brought it all with you to every photo shoot.
The love of photography
    It looked like I was never going to get around to starting this section. Photography was my first love, and I have been involved with it much longer than I have been involved in any of my other hobbies. I have been screwing around with cameras since I was a kid, got fairly serious about it when I turned twelve, and got my first really good camera (a Canon FTb) when I was fifteen, with paper route money. The old FTb is still with me, and is one of my favorites. For those not aquatinted with it, the Canon FTb is an all metal, mechanical, match needle (manual exposure) SLR. This camera has been with me through my entire long and torturous involvement with college, and with photography.
A bit of history
    I have actually gotten quite skilled as a photographer. I have been on two student newspapers. I was photographer, and then photo editor at the M.A.T.C. Times, back in the seventies. This paper has consistantly won awards, and is one of the finest student papers in the country. I was also photo editor of the U.W.M. Times when I later switched schools. The U.W.M. Times has since disappeared, but during the early nineties it was quite a good paper, and was one of the few conservative college papers of which I am aware. During my time at M.A.T.C. I joined Beta Phi Gamma, the journalistic fraternity, this despite the fact that I have never actually been a student of journalism.
    I was a wedding photographer for years, and also paid my dues as an automobile photographer, a real estate photographer, and an "underground newspaper" photographer. This long sojourn through photographer hell convinced me that I should give up any pretense of being a professional photographer, and simply enjoy it as a hobby. I actually was able to make a meager living doing this, but it was too little reward for way too much time and effort, and I found myself enjoying photography less and less, while becoming more frozen in my style, and losing my creative edge. I found myself doing far too much "cookbook" photography, in an attempt to make deadlines, and get "stock" shots. Several more years of this, and photography would have lost it's magic entirely, and I would have become one of those wedding and portrait photographers who takes the same picture a thousand times a week (different people in every shot, but the same picture nonetheless).
    Having given up photography as a profession, I found that my skills immediately began to improve. One of my favorites was night photography. This was a real challenge, and the results could be very satisfying. Back in the eighties, I would spend hours playing with different films, pushing them to decrease exposure time, or using very slow films, ultra long exposures, and a flash to "paint" the scene. Years later, these are still some of my favorite shots. I disdained the use of flash, and became quite skilled at scene manipulation and the use of available light. This was probably a minor rebellion against my years of wedding photography, where flash photography was my bread and butter. Presently, my favorite use for flash is as fill to soften shadows, and take some of the contrast out of outdoor scenes. The last ten years or so have found me interested mainly in people, and events. Having overcome the challenges of low light photography, close up photography, and composition, I find the greatest challenge to be catching people in the act of being individuals.
    Back in the seventies and eighties, I was mr. photography, and every time I showed up someplace, it was assumed that I would have a camera with me. This was back when I had my darkroom set up, and when I was intermitantly working as a photographer, or on a school paper, or both. I am not as involved in the hobby as I once was, but I still bring a camera to any activity of any interest, and I occasionally still go out and shoot at night, or try to get a good landscape, or screw around with some new technique, or effect that I have thought of or read about. Of course the new revolution in digital photography has removed much of the tedium. Most of the digital cameras out right now are not good enough to do real quality work (unless you are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars), but they will evolve