I learned a deeply technical lesson for improving photography from a friend this week - press the shutter once in a while.

Loved this photo:

"The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of 'Cat'"

[Link]

Wow, these are some really amazing photographs of Danish starlings. I'm always blown away by the tight formations of the local flocks here in Sonoma.

Click here

I've recently been given some slides to scan, pictures from when Dana was a kid. After trying out the transparency adapter on my trusty Epson Perfection 1650, I realized that for these particular images I wanted more quality than the Epson could provide. It's an excellent scanner, but the slide/film part is a weakness.

So I purchased a Nikon Coolscan IV film scanner at the ol' flea market. The description was terse, simply saying that it was in good condition. Due the brief text and poor title wording, I gather that not many people saw this particular auction, because no one else bid and I got a smokin deal on the thing.