Sometimes it's better to be lucky than smart. When we broke an old tube television (honestly, an accident), we needed a new TV. Coincidentally, a friend of mine was then extolling the virtues of his new plasma TV (yes, a Panasonic), I read the reviews and was impressed so we also bought one. In the literature with the TV was a mention of LivingInHD.com; that's how I found the site. Since then, I have enjoyed the photo entries and contests. I also like to check the new products and the technical information.

That would be my duck avatar. This guy is floating around in a serene pond among branches and muted sunlight. It's a very relaxing image and has an overall calming effect on me.

Film and digital media are cheap relative to missing a great shot. By all means snap away so you don't miss the action (kids, sports, movements, crowds, etc.). Balance that by looking for different angles, framing objects (branches, for example) and focusing on the less obvious (a shadow, a small detail, a face off to the main subject, etc.). If you like people, take pictures of them, not a speck against the Grand Canyon or the Taj Mahal. Decide which subject you want for each shot; don't mix the people with the scene too often. Don't zoom too much, as you can always crop later if needed. By the way, my wife is still a black and white film camera user. She is the art photographer in the family while I do mostly the "touristy shots." It's a nice balance, overall. If you make a slide show, cull out the duplicates and boring shots and then fix them up (I use Picasa). The finished set goes to a SD card for insertion into my TV for a brilliant (and big) slide show (versus having to flip through a book of photo prints). We also hope to do a book using Blurb.com in the near future.

I grew up with film cameras and still love them, but digital adds a level of freedom and convenience. Many posters show me new angles and subjects that I might want to try out. Finally, I am trying to integrate it all with an HD slide show and the web. The technical information, I hope will help me do that smoothly.