So what do you take with you when you venture into the great outdoors on a photo shoot?

Of course you have the obvious; a camera, maybe a couple of lenses (and I would recommend that one of those lenses be a 50mm, despite all the bad press, it is a brilliant focal length), a tripod...

But what about the less obvious stuff?

Spare batteries (especially if I'm thinking of braving really cold weather, batteries just don't last too long when it is cold) and a charger.

A flash with spare batteries as well. A flash is useful even when it is sunny outside, you may want to use it to fill in the shadows if the contrast is too much (I would recommend that you really try and learn how to use fill-in flash, it isn't all that simple but well worth the effort).

Also, if you can, take a couple ...

The DT "Resources" section recommends a few books for photographers... I just wanted to mention a few others that I have particularly enjoyed reading and have thought to be useful.

National Geographic Field Guides

Many of the photographers at the National Geographic are legends (or at least should be) for the photos they produce when on assignment. This series of books gives lots of practical advice on the equipment to use and technical aspects to keep in mind when taking a picture. One of my favourite features is the little insets where different photographers tell about how they go about working and how they got into photography, etc. Some really great (and sometimes famous) photos are printed in this.

Get on Amazon and search for "National Geographic photography Field Guide" to get ...

Architecture... it's all around us... we work in skyscrapers, live in houses or high rises... we walk by all types of buildings, we even take vacations to go off to far flung lands... to look at architecture. It isn't just a practical necessity, it has become a window to different cultures and life styles. Looking at architecture can give us great insight not into a civilization but more often than not into the economics and environment of a region. Mudhuts in one place, high rise buildings in another. Buildings can tell us a lot about the climate of a place as well, how to deal with huge torrents of water, or extreme heat even earthquakes. Over the centuries people have built their abodes and workplaces to deal with what goes on around them. In the end it is a lot ...

I came across this article on the BBC News website: Photo tool could fix bad images

And I have to say that I am very impressed that someone has managed to develop something this ingenious. But at the same time it raised a few questions for me.

Is something like this going to make photographers lazier? Remember the days before digital cameras? When there was no immediacy of seeing your shot and no instant correction if something was wrong with the picture? You had to take notes as to what settings you had used and then wait for the whole thing to be developed... and then figure out whether it was good enough and whether or not you had to go back and redo it? Well digital has been a boon to all of us... it's made things ...

First off, it's been a bit of a break since I wrote the first part of this. But it has been pretty hectic for me lately, so please accept my apologies.

In this part I would like to mention a few ways I think could make photographs of architecture a little different and help them stand out from the rest. After all, as I said in the first part... most people think that architecture is easy to photograph, and it is as long as the basics of lighting and composition are kept well in mind and followed.

The Story

Most of the pictures are of buildings standing alone. In fact there are billions of them. But the pictures that speak the most to me, are ones that tell a story. Maybe show a bit of the surrounding environment. Like I mentioned in the first part, I would find ...

Recently, I had the good fortune to experience a really important milestone in my life. I got married. It was a brilliant day, and my wife looked radiant. In this day and age when most people look upon the wedding certificate as nothing more than a piece of paper imposed upon society by abstract norms and legal wranglings, I realized just how important the ceremony was to me and to my wife. It changed nothing in terms of our relationship or feelings for each other, but in a very subtle way it brought some new significance to our lives together.

There was just one little thing that I noticed. As the groom, I was obviously not in a position to take photographs of the event. Nor do I think I would have wanted to. But in any case, we had friends take photos instead, and we collected them ...

After a bunch of blogs related to photography, I thought I'd try my hand at something else. And as the new assignment is “Communication”, what better subject?

Humans have an innate need for communication, and every time there is a new method of doing so people flock to it. I'm actually becoming rather fascinated by the phenomena of on-line "social" networks. But I’m wondering whether all this is going to induce any changes in society at large?

In the past, I must admit I have been rather dismissive of these, except for the professional network sites such as LinkedIn. LinkedIn has proved itself to be extremely useful... basically I've more or less posted my CV there and on occasion have had people get in touch with me to see if I would be interested in a career ...

One of the most impressive sights in Geneva is the gigantic water fountain known as the Jet D'eau. It can be seen from almost anywhere in the city and is a big tourist attraction.

500 liters of water are propelled up to a height of 140 meters and at a speed of 200 km per hour.

It really started out life, in 1886, as a safety feature for a hydro power generator. As demand for high pressure water wasn't high at night a safety valve was used to diminish the pressure at that time.

In 1891, recognizing its potential as a tourist attraction the city moved it to its present location in a more exposed part of the lake where it awes thousands of tourists each year.

...

Eons ago (OK only 6 years ago then) I used to work in the IT Security domain. People thought of me as "the policeman". It was a most irritating label, because that was only a tiny part of the job. The biggest challenge was trying to make sure no one "broke into the house", and that meant staying ahead of the game. It also means covering ALL the bases... think about it, the so-called "bad guys" need to find only one entry point, the "white hats" have to make sure that every potential weakness is covered. People say there is no such thing as a 100% secure system. I always laugh at that and reply "Yes there is. Disconnect your computer from any sort of network, turn off the machine, put it in a safe, lock it in the vault, and then throw the key in the Atlantic". Problem ...