Pogue's Hints;

Pogue has written a blog and in that blog he has offered many helpful hints and information. Among those tips, he offered advice on eliminating the shutter lag, creating a "blurred" background effect, and advice on using the flash outdoors (during the daytime) to eluminate the face of your subject without effecting the exposure of the background. In addition to these extremely helpful tips, he also offered the insight of using everyday items to help with your photography - such as, using a lampshade socket as a tripod and advice on when the perfect time is to take pictures.

I found all of this information very useful and I think I will use some of his ideas in the future when taking pictures. I think the advice that he had to offer was very interesting as well as insightful. I also intend to read his blog in the future, to find out more helpful advice that Pogue has to offer.

To view his blog, click here.

The Return of Coal

There are eight pictures in a series that are describing why coal should be used rather than oil as a heating source, and how coal is making a come back. The title of the series is called, “The Return of Coal.” Of the eight pictures shown in the series, there were only a few that I believed to be semi-affective or decent pictures.

Of them, I believed that the first picture was a really good one, because of the composition of the picture. It was of a building that had a painted slogan on two of the walls and the photograph was taken from an angle so that you could see both of the walls. The slogans that were written on the walls of the buildings were, “Everybody’s goal is mine more coal,” and “Did you produce a car more today?” This was intended to remind everyone of the importance of coal.



Another picture that was really effective, was the picture of the man pouring coal into his furnace, as his wife and child were in the background playing. I thought this kind of brought the picture close-to-home, and made it seem like a part of everyday life.



I was convinced of the argument to bring back coal after watching this photo-essay because of the photos and descriptions that were presented.

To learn more about coal and mining please go to the following website;
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/12/27/business/1227-COAL_index.html