Well - here we are. Three years and four hundred posts on my blog. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself.

So looking back through my photos, trying to figure out what I should share for this post, I really had a hard time thinking of what would really work well. There's no doubt that the photo below is one of my all-time favorite photos (so much so, that I have no qualms with sharing it again here)....

I also recently read an article about how underwater photographers have a love/hate relationship with anemone fish or clownfish. They're so cute (most species - I personally find some of them look downright angry all the time), their behaviors with their host anemone, their bright colors... it call comes together to make for a fantastic photo subject. Then there's the fact that they absolutely never hold still, and will take one of two courses of action when you approach - they will either hide or be a bit aggressive and will actually come out of their anemone to nip at you. So while they are great fun to photograph, they're also impossibly uncooperative.

With that in mind, here are some of the anemone fish shots that just get overshadowed, because (to be perfectly honest) I got lucky enough to nail the one above!

Well, there you have it. Three years worth of posts. Here's to three more (though I think a redesign is in order before that milestone).

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by, left comments, and above all complimented my photography!

- Bill

PS: Yay that hockey is back!

I don't know if you've noticed, but to the right, there is a link to Photography Books. Something I collect more than camera gear is photography books (probably because they're cheaper).

Anyway, I've mentioned this a couple other times before, but I hadn't really built up that page. I recently ordered a couple new books (which I'll discuss at a later date) which prompted me to finally get some info on that page.

So far, I have only managed just a list of the books I currently own. Eventually, I wouldn't mind having (at least) a quick blurb or (preferably) a full review of each book here, but for now this will have to suffice.

If you have books you would like to suggest, please leave me a comment or use the contact form to email me.

And on that note, I'm going to go read one of my new books.

- Bill

Alright! So it is time to unveil some of the improvements I've been trying to get working for some time.

I've figured out a way to associate a thumbnail image with posts. So now when I make a post to discuss a photograph, I can also attach a thumbnail of that image to the posts.

Now, with those thumbnails I've created two new features - Table of Contents and the Random Images to the right. The thumbnail images provide links back to the original post where the photo was discussed.

Oddly enough I had been trying to figure this out for months to no avail, but finally asked for some help on the Drupal IRC channel and was directed to a perfect solution. It really restores my opinion of Drupal's ability to produce some really impressive websites.

Check out the new features and let me know what you think. I still have some small edits I want to make to the way they are displayed, but the functionality should be the same (unless I get a lot of requests for additional features of course).

- Bill

Ok - so I've been slacking and missing a bunch of updates. I have good reasons though - really I do!

Recently I've been working on getting some photos selected for several competitions coming up. This is something new for me, but I am hoping that it will also help me improve my photography. Currently I have four different competitions I'm getting stuff ready for, so I'm a little overwhelmed.

To help myself keep things in order, I decided to keep a log of what I have submitted to what competitions, and what upcoming deadlines I have. If you're interested, head over to the Competition Log and check it out.

If you know of any photography competitions, please mash on the Contact link and send me a pointer to it.

I've also signed up for an ice hockey clinic, and so I've been spending a chunk of time researching some gear I need to pick up. Plus there's that whole Olympics thing. Plus a recent addiction to watching The Office.

But I'll try getting back on track - promise.

- Bill

Sorry, no photo to share tonight. I spent some time this evening fixing up a few features on the site that I've been meaning to get to since early on.

First, I fleshed out the External Links menu area in the sidebar to the right. I added links to some of the places I buy camera equipment from (or at least continually compare products and prices at) under 'Camera Stores'. I linked to The Photographic Section which seems to be Pittsburgh's main photography group which I will be officially joining this coming Tuesday. Then a section with other photography sites I visit frequently. And finally a section with links to other photographer's websites that I have been inspired by.

This is only round one of this kind of stuff, so it is by no means to be considered all inclusive or complete.

Which leads me right to the other improvement - I finally turned on the Contact form so you can send me a message any time you might have something that doesn't necessarily belong as a comment to a specific post. Anything you might have - questions, suggestions about the site, links to photography sites you think I should check out - anything except spam!

I guess that's it for now, I'm going to go relax and watch the Olympics for a bit I think... and wish I had some of the camera equipment you see scattered around the press sections at each event. Some killer nice lenses! Speaking of which - my new Sigma lens is on back-order, so it will be a bit longer till I get to play with that.

- Bill