The other day I was asked if I could identify one image of mine that best represented my photographic career. My first thought was, what a fruitless exercise! But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there may be some value in going through my archives to see if there was one such image or, if not, if there was a trend.

Last week, I visited the Italian Renaissance Alive exhibit at the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina. What an odd presentation it was!

I was mentioning to a friend that I had printed a 10-foot long panorama, just because I was curious to see if I could do it. The problem quickly surfaced that it would be incredibly expensive to frame it. I suggested just thumbtacking it to the wall. Audible gasps. Why?

I've never met a photographer who couldn't identify a life-changing image, mostly from some famous photographer, but occasionally one of their own images. This always strikes me as a great example how the success of a photograph requires both a photographer and a viewer.

Does anybody use DNG Lossy format? I've been doing some tests and I can't find any reason to NOT use it, but there might be some. I suppose the first question would be is it that critical to cut my RAW file sizes in half? Am I that desperate for conserving hard drive space? Or is this a technology that we can easily ignore.

One aspect I miss from the world of analog photography are the necessary routines that allowed me to be productive without having to stretch my creativity. Sometimes it's really lovely to just be employed in things that don't require too much brain power but yet give us a feeling of accomplishment. Welcome keywording and meta data updates.

Big news about my travels and a thoroughly unexpected lesson learned!

We all know the old maxim that learning never stops. That's true, but I think it does definitely slow down. There is a bell curve to learning and that applies to photography, too. Eventually doing replaces learning and that's where the trouble sets in.

Neurologists, I suspect, could explain why I seem to be more creative, or perhaps more receptive to a creative idea, when I'm just a bit tired. If I'm too tired, I get lazy and don't want to leap into action no matter how good of an idea pops into my head. But just the right amount of tired can be the ideal environment for creative thinking.

The difference between photographing in the western states and the eastern states is not one of landscape structures or even vegetation. I found the primary difference is that the roads in the west are wider with places to pull off. There are more dirt roads, more public lands, more places to do photography. It's much more difficult here in the east.