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Before moving to Colorado, I had seen a snowmobile at a distance once or twice ... then we moved into a house on the snowmobile trail out of town. The first year or two, the trail came to our driveway, then crossed into the park. Now, it crosses the road about a hundred yards from the house. We didn't even get a trailer until a couple years ago. I don't ride near as much as my husband. Bad knees frustrate me, I usually start hurting after only 20-30 miles. Fortunately, he's found some guys to ride the style and distances he likes to ride, so I don't feel so bad about not being able to keep up.
I've always loved photography. I took a couple of photo classes in college and was hooked forever. I got my first digital camera in the summer of 1999 and never looked back.
One of the great things about digital photography is that you're freed from the expense of purchasing film, developing and prints. Your only limitations are the life of your batteries* (and spares) and the capacity of your memory card(s). Instead of trying to time that perfect sunset shot, you can shoot and shoot and sort it all out later.
What's the most important rule of photography? Carry your camera everywhere. If you don't have it you can't decide if you want to shoot a picture or not - you just can't do it. I call my camera "my attachment" -- it's on my shoulder or hip wherever I go. On the rare occasions I leave the house without my camera, I almost always regret it.
Most of the techniques for traditional photography work with digital photography. Don't worry about the "rules" - shoot what you want, the way you want. It's your picture. If you like it, then it's a good picture. Period.
Resolution is how many pixels (dots) per inch it will display on the screen and how many pixels across and down. Together, they determine how big a file you create when you take a picture, and how big it will look on a computer screen. My personal practice (and advice to others) it to always take photos at the "biggest and bestest" your camera can do. Why? Because you can always make a picture smaller, but not larger. If you plan to always display them on a computer screen and never print them, smaller is OK. But what about that one great shot you're so proud of and would like to frame and hang on the wall? If you took it at a small resolution, you won't be able to make a large print. I take them big and reduce them for computer screen display, small pictures for newsletters, etc. But I always keep the original large files in case I want to use them some other way.
If you use Windows XP I strongly recommend downloading and installing the Picture resizer Power Toy. Power Toys are small companion programs written by Microsoft but not distributed with Windows and not supported by Microsoft. With the Picture Resizer, you can right-click any photo file and resize it to one of 4 standard sizes, or use the custom settings. If I'm just resizing pictures for a web site, or for thumbnails, I use this Power Toy. If I need to make other changes I use Paint Shop Pro - it has almost all the capabilities of Adobe PhotoShop at a fraction of the cost.
* A note about rechargeable batteries - they just don't like to be cold. If you carry anything powered by rechargeable batteries in the winter, be sure to keep it warm. Keep it inside your jacket, in a warm (but not too hot - you don't want to melt it) place on your snowmobile, or pack a handwarmer pack in the case with it. When I had a large camera, I put a toe heater in the bottom of the case and another in the lid. No problems with batteries that died from the cold. Make sure to use the non-toxic envelope type heater - you don't want to expose your camera to anything that could damage it.
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