I was a little jealous that my husband got to go to Mexico for research. Not so much the research part, but he was able to take pictures of beautiful landscapes and animals. It was ridiculous, perfect shots were just handed to him left and right. And here I was, in the midst of midwest winter, and the only thing to photograph was dead corn fields. Not very interesting.However, when he got home, he had a great gift for me. In a little bookshop in the middle of rural Mexico, he found a bunch of Time Life photography books. Yes, they are based on film, but the concepts are no different. I might even suggest every photographer take the time to read these. The ones he got me were "The Studio", "Special Problems", "Light and Film", "Great Photographers", and "Photographing Children". I learned different techniques in lighting as well as the history of photography. I have to say I really enjoyed the history portions the most, learning about how photography and film came to be. I also really enjoyed learning about the view camera, and how you could change the depth of field by swinging the camera lens from the mirror. I think I might like to build a darkroom in my home one day, I still love using film.
