Oh, to be young again.  I'll leave it at that...

Nice shot

 Nice shot.

 I can't stop staring at the drop of water on his chin

and his hiney

Dixie:

 I can't stop staring at the drop of water on his chin

and his hiney

 ahahahahahahahaha!!!! hahahaha!!  you made me snort!

 You're a snorter too?

Susan snorts whenever something is really funny.

 Actually, his assets.  

 cool action shot.......lurker. That should be in a galveston brochure.

 A funnel cloud south of Kroger's at around 8:30 Tuesday morning.

 Wow, lurker.  thats a great shot.

Dixie:

 I can't stop staring at the drop of water on his chin

and his hiney

And you called me a perv.. your a hipocrit.

Thats an awesome picture Lurker.

Muhnay:

Thats an awesome picture Lurker.

 

 I had to tweak the contrast a bit to bring the funnel cloud out. The water was actually a lighter shade of brown.

 Great pic of the funnel cloud!

 Lurker.

WOW!!!! 

Did you just happen to have the camera with you?

No tornado warning or anything?  I would have been freaking out.

 Except when Diogee is taking me for a walk, I usually carry my camera.

This one made me a little nervous a while back.

 Great shot!!!

It's time to worry when the lower part of the funnel turns black... that is what I was talking about in see/do..... when it turns black that means it's on land and carrying debris

 You have to be a Johnny on the spot to get a great shot like that...awesome

I am sure you have told us before.. butu what kind of camera do you have? I think I want to go get one like yours. I also need one that can take pictures of 24mm miniatures and capture the great detail in them. Any advice?

 I have an old Canon 10D digital single lens reflex. I'm a control freak when it comes to photography. DrewK has the Canon Rebel XTi -- and I believe that the price has gone down considerably since he got his and the XTs went on the market. The Rebel series is made of plastic, but there's nothing cheap about the innards. I am afraid to use the rebel series because I'm rough on my equipment, and I have large hands. The Rebels feel too small and flimsy.

Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Olympus (The old-line camera makers) all make very good point and shoot cameras with excellent macro capabilities, which is probably what you want for the miniatures. They cost much less than the DSLRs. 

If you decide to go DSLR, go canon. When I worked in newspapers in the 70s-80s most photojournalists used Nikon 35mm film cameras. When I went back to work for a newspaper in 2000, they didn't even have a darkroom, and they had switched to Canon. Switching entire camera systems is very expensive. Instead of switching just from film bodies to digital bodies, and keeping their old lenses, they switched to Canon and had to buy all new lenses. Very, very expensive. From what I read, Canon still has the edge in image quality -- and that is only noticable when you start blowing up photos larger than 8X12.

Old Dawg probably has forgotten more about photography, than I know, and he uses a P&S. A friend of mine, who was the best photographer I've ever known, told me that he uses only P&S.

I don't like them because 1. manual control is overly complicated. 2. I hate the view screens -- there is too much glare on the screen. 3. shutter lag -- It seems like an eternity passes between the time you push the shutter release, and the shutter actually releases. 4. You have to go through a difficult to see menu to manually set shutter speed, aperature and ISO.

To check out cameras that look good to you, plug the camera model into your search engine with the word "reviews." Read the user reviews. A lot of people are wasting their money on DSLRs. They switch to full auto and use it like a Point & Shoot. The DSLR isn't going to give them better photos than they can get with a good P&S of comparable resolution. If you don't plan on making large prints of your photos, the P&S will do you proud, and you'll save a lot of money that you can spend on the kids.

My personal recommendation is to stay away from SLR photography. It is expensive and addictive. You'll always crave a better lens. Fortunately, I'm broke all of the time and can't afford to blow money on lenses, and I'm not yet desperate enough to turn to a life of crime to support the habit...yet.

Lurker:

 Except when Diogee is taking me for a walk, I usually carry my camera.

This one made me a little nervous a while back.

 

 I remember when you posted that pic on the old forum.  I saved it and used it as my wallpaper for the longest time.

 Muhnay,

We got a rebel xti  last fall.  love it.  lurker is right.  canon is the only way to go.  have had a canon film or digital since 1987. used a sony digital p/s once swore i would never do that again.  went right back to film, then got the digital would not trade it for the world.

check out the pix

www.flickr.com/photos/landlockedtxn

Cool, I have a flickr account too. I am gonna add you to my friends list there. Thanks for the Advice LURKER and JOHNNA R.

OHHH WOW GREAT PICTURES! can I get this one at full size? I want to use it as my desktop. thats awesome!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/landlockedtxn/2414545785/

Here is my flickr info - http://www.flickr.com/photos/muhnay/

All my pictures were taken with a off the shelf cheap digital camera from Wal*Mart. I need to get a real camera again.

Johnna R:

 Muhnay,

We got a rebel xti  last fall.  love it.  lurker is right.  canon is the only way to go.  have had a canon film or digital since 1987. used a sony digital p/s once swore i would never do that again.  went right back to film, then got the digital would not trade it for the world.

check out the pix

www.flickr.com/photos/landlockedtxn

Johnna R:

 Muhnay,

We got a rebel xti  last fall.  love it.  lurker is right.  canon is the only way to go.  have had a canon film or digital since 1987. used a sony digital p/s once swore i would never do that again.  went right back to film, then got the digital would not trade it for the world.

check out the pix

www.flickr.com/photos/landlockedtxn

DO NOT buy Sony. I had a bad experience with the service department. Buy from camera companies that have been making cameras for a long time.  The best photo I've seen posted on the Galveston.com forum was taken by DrewK with a P&S. A kitten hiding in a flower bed. You'll have to ask him the make and model.

Of you decide to go DSLR, you'll have to ask JR or Drew about the the macro capabilities of Canon's 18-55 kit lens. I've never used one. The minimum focusing distance for my 75-300 is nearly 5 feet. The 28-105 is 1.6 feet.

I still recommend P&S.

 Anyone with a Flickr account should read this: http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2008/07/07/how-every-flickr-photo-ended-up-on-sale-this-weekend/

 :Lurker,  My friend,

Sooooooo glad you are back.  missed ya bunches

Interesting article, lurker.  Sure does illustrate how the issue of intellectual property rights has been made so extremely complicated by the internet and the ability of anyone to exactly reproduce digitally just about any kind of original art.  I dunno how professional artists in any media can feel comfortable with allowing access to their work, but then, what's the point if they don't?  Lotsa catch 22's in the whole thing. 

I have a Flickr account, too, but of course, I'm no pro, so I have nothing out there worth discussing in terms of copyright law.  I don't envy you guys who have to try to navigate through those rocky shoals.