After letting the tank sit for five months now and having more experience under the belt, we decided to have another go at an anemone and a clownfish.  I've fallen in love with the rose tipped bulb anemones, but they've been $299-$399.  Monday I was at The Living Sea and their supplier had provided a number of them at a fantatsic price - $49!  And, to make it even better, there was one that was already host to a maroon clown - so we grabbed 'em both.

They are now in the tank and, thus far, looking good.  The anemone has already walked around the tank looking for a place to call home and has settled on the ledge that everything else appears to like as well (I sure, stinging the hell out of everything along its way ... a new problem that will have to be dealt with.)  The really cool thing is Monday night I couldn't find the clown and started to panic.  Turns out it was inside the anenome as it was walking around the tank ... you could see the anenome shake as the clown would weave inside while sleeping.

I'll get some pictures posted up soon.

[Updated on July 30, 2004 at 3:34PM to correct a mispelling in the title]

I've come to learn if you're going to get into photography, always, always, always carry a tripod.  Unless you are shooting in bright daylight - which, for a number of reasons, isn't the optimum lighting conditions - then you're going to most likely need to fall upon the use of a tripod or deal with blurry - or at least soft - images.

Madison at Night © Kevin W. Hammond All Rights Reserved

After watching the Nikon School breakfast series, I was sold on the idea of carrying a table top tripod with me at all times.  I picked up a Manfrotto 3007KIT, a table top tripod kit that fits nicely in the front of my bag.  This tripod is cast iron and rock solid and thank goodness I had it in my bag last night!  I was returning to my hotel from Tom's and saw a beautiful reflection on the lake from downtown Madison.  The only lens I had with me that could grab that shot from across the lake was a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens - and I had forgotten my main tripod at home!  Since I carry the table top tripod with me, I was able to mount it to the big lens, drop to my belly and actually get the shot you see here.   Without the tripod, I doubt I would have gotten this shot.

Yesterday, I used Tom's Manfrotto full size tripod and found it to have the same rock solid feel as my table top tripod.  So I bought one - the Manfrotto 3001BPRO and the grip action ball head.  Man are they nice!

Window at the Canturbury Inn © Kevin W. Hammond, 2004 All Rights Reserved

While traveling on business to Madison, Wisconsin and staying at the Canturbury Inn, I completed reading Bryan F. Peterson's Learning to See Creatively.  On my day of departure I awoke late and threw open the curtains of the window and turned to walk away and shower.  But then I stopped.  I remebered reading about patterns.  I remembered reading about framing images that prevent the eye from leaving the picture.

I had left my tripod at home on this trip, but fortunately had my mini Manfroto with me.  I quickly scoured the room for something that would afford me the height I needed to take a picture of the window.  I placed the desk chair atop an endtable chess board, extended my mini tripod as high as it would go and framed the shot above.

I used my 18-55mm lens set to 37mm, chose an aperture of f/22 and adjusted my shutter speed until 1/6 second indicated a correct exposure at ISO 400.

I'm currently taking Bryan F. Peterson's Understanding Exposure course over the Internet.  We're into the second week - studying the creative aspect of aperture and shutter speed.  In completing last weeks lesson today, I made this shot based upon a technique I read in Popular Photography and Imaging.