[Mike McCarty]

I shall speak as if I know what I am talking about. This post is for those who struggle to get good photo resource material and have accepted photographs as a part of their portrait process.

I love photography. I love the immediate gratification. I hear about those who shoot rolls of film and then never get around to taking them to the developer. For me, I am in the car and heading that way ASAP. Pacing in the parking lot looking at my watch.

I give myself credit for being able to take an acceptable portrait photo. I would, however, not be a good source of technical information. I just don't care about all that. I want to know what it takes to get the results I want. Then I want to look at my photos and imagine paintings, not admire and fondle my camera's switches.

If you look at a camera with all its buttons and dials, and glance at the thick manual, it's not hard to be intimidated. But I am of the opinion that if you can understand 5 or 6 basic principles you can take wonderful portrait photos. These principles, by the way, have little to do with the camera.

I think it comes down to these basic points:

It appears that this post has been corrupted in some way and the remainder of this post has been lost. MM