Summer’s drawing to an end. A few more weeks and we’ll have forgotten the beautiful days and the sweltering heat. Gone will be the evenings of preparing food on a barbecue and eating outside. We will be welcoming fresher evenings, less mosquitoes and other flying crocodiles. All we will have left are the memories we recorded in our brains and on our memory cards.
For now, both are working fine, but I’m hedging my bets by doubling up my memories on an SD card 
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Lately I see more and more people put to shame. Including myself. It seems that shaming photographers for the choice of their shooting location gives more satisfaction than looking at the quality of the pictures or the subjects themselves. Shooting train tracks is one of those reasons to go berserk it seems. Lately, the actions of a few irresponsible people that call themselves photographers have caused an outrage over shots of sunflowers on farmers’ lands. The same can be said for those shooting “dangerous” wildlife.
So what can you do to protect yourself from social media outrage?
We’ve all been in that situation. Shoot it or miss it. RIGHT NOW. Most of the time I missed it. I am a relaxed kind of guy. Push me too much, however, and I’ll bite. Not necessarily where it is appreciated. So how does that show in my photography? I understand that this is different for each photographer, whatever his or her perceived status (pro, seasoned, beginner, …). Is the rush visible in a photograph? Is preparation visible in a photograph?
Let's find out. Some situations are easily recognisable, like this church interior in Belgium.
When you’re living in a city, the skies at night are fairly underwhelming. The shots you will get are the well lit buildings and bridges. A rare time you will find a place to shoot light trails from passing cars. Winnipeg has little traffic for light trails after dark. I’m not sure as to why, there is enough traffic, but perhaps not enough places from where to shoot that live traffic. However you turn it, in Winnipeg one will end up shooting this bridge.
It is now nearly world famous, in Manitoba. Shooting it in winter or summer makes little difference, as long as the skies are nice and clear. Sometimes, the sky over Winnipeg is lit up.
It’s a hectic world today. We all know the stress of work, of home ownership, politics and so on. At first we don’t seem to notice it, but after some time we find out that things feel a little “off”. We start being snappy, even with people who don’t deserve it. Depression in some form sets in and still we have no idea what is the cause of all this, adding to the discomfort. Then starts the spiral downwards to outright anger and despair. Getting rid of the feeling may need something more, say, powerful.
No longer can the feeling be ignored, something has to be done before it is really too late.