I have a friend who was mentored by one of the all time great photographers, beginning when he was 8 years old.

He's a heck of a photographer. I can't hold a candle to him.

I'll keep you all apprised.

I appreciate your interest.

I personally think you'd do just fine <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Mike, you've inspired me. Next time I'm off I'm going to the Great Smoky Mountains, it's only a couple hours away from me. Probably the prettiest place this side of the Mississippi. If I can't find some good stuff there to shoot I'll just hang it up.

There are other options besides commercial photography, that don't require great equipment, just vision.

You can take worthy pictures with inferior equipment. For example, I have a snapshot taken with a less-than-1-megapixel cell phone, which has landed me a number of children;s photography gigs.

Give me a moment to find it....

Here it is:



See? Blurry, low-resolution, underexposed phone snapshot – doesn't matter, if the vision works.

This is my ex, and her kids, by the way.

I shoot weddings with my D2h, and do just fine. But you're generally only enlarging to 8 x 10 or 11 x 14 with those, and mostly 4 x 6 or 5 x 7. I do pretty well with it there. But when I get the bigger sizes my equipment just doesn't hold up to those resolutions. I'm trying to get a D300 or D700 soon, but since I'm not making a living with my cameras I can't justify spending 3-4k on one body.

All about the feeling in the shot, and the mood. Most people would never see things that drive us photographers crazy. Like my avatar. I cut off the top of one of the lanterns, and it drives me crazy. My wife and her mother still love it, and I made several prints for them to hang on their walls.

I understand what you are saying.

Nonetheless, most wedding clients will accept technically lesser pictures, if the moment, the emotion, the meaning, etc., are there.

By the way, you don't need to spend that much on a body. You can get a very nice used camera body, a couple years old, for less.

I can relate to that.

I'm a harsh critic of my own work, and I can see the flaws in my pictures in a magnified way, compared to how others see my work.

Sometimes we critize ourselves to much.

I'm hoping to get a D700, which is a full-frame camera, within the next year. I shoot high school sports for the local paper, and hope I can save enough through football and basketball seasons to get one by next spring.