The prices went down on the Nikon D40 kit, and my resistance went down further, resulting in my proud ownership of a new DSLR. The weather changed from our typical sunny days to thick, dark clouds, rain and wind. I took some test shots of the cats, the furniture, the printer, and waited for the sun.

I'm still waiting, but the rain stopped and the skies lightened up enough to get out and find something new to shoot. I took some shots of the thick clouds hovering over the Superstition...

Choosing a subject for photography can be easy or hard. Many people choose their family members as subjects, and leave it at that. Others have a passion for something else -- nature, travel, flowers, wildlife, children, sunsets, pet animals, architecture, ghost towns, .... and follow their passion with their camera; some even follow town to town and country to country.

What inspires YOU to pick up your camera?

Here are a few links to images that inspire me:

...

Most of my photography has always been outdoors with natural light. I took a college class on portraiture and learned to use the strobe equipment enough to pass the class, but not enough to feel comfortable. I also haven't ever wanted to cart around a lot of equipment or even to spend a lot of money on lighting equipment -- but I have wanted to learn more about adding and modifying light for my images.

One blog that I've been reading to learn more is

http://strobist.blogspot.com/...

Every so often it hits me. Time zips by and I forget to eat, ignore my cats' insistence on a head-rub, and only get up to visit the bathroom. Am I researching useful info on presidential candidates, or locating examples of living-wills for my relatives? Nope, just visiting DPreview, Imaging Resources, etc. looking at specs, image samples and owner comments relating to the recent crop of DSLR's.

Last year I talked myself out of a DSLR and bought an updated super-zoom Fujifilm S5200....