Becoming a better photographer...equipment, books, etc.
An excellent book for everything photography is "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. It is a great place to learn and reinforce all your photography skills and is highly recommended by many photographers (at least those that have not written their own books). With over 500 reviews on Amazon and a 4.5 out of 5 star rating its a no brainer - and you can find it on this link for only $17. It is a reference you can reliably turn to for years - you cant beat that!
It is a fact that everyone has their own preference for a camera body...Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc. Personally I like the Nikon brand, not only because I think they offer the best broad range of camera bodys for every budget and style from newbie beginners to seasoned professionals, but because they have amazing lenses. Specifically their 18-200mm VR Nikkor Lense...unless you are a pro, this may be the ONLY lense you will ever need. It shoots close up like a wide angle lense and telephoto like a 300mm lense - and the beauty is you DON'T have to change lenses to go from up close to far away, its just a twist of the wrist. Lastly, if you have an unsteady hand you dont have to worry so much because the VR (Vibration Reduction) feature will smooth out most of the shake. Ever since I had mine it has been like my credit card...I don't leave home without it.
So now that you researched all your choices within your budget (yes, this hobby can get quite expensive) and finally made an investment in your favorite camera body and lense, how are you going to safely carry it around? How about one of the best camera bags around...Crumpler. This line of bags has excellent padding and compartmentalization inside, while being both stylish and inconspicuous outside. After all you dont want to advertise to the world you are carrying around hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of electronics over your shoulder. For some of the best prices around check out all Crumpler bags with this link. You can also check out the Crumpler home site which provides some cool graphics (hopefully you have a fast computer) and may provide some more specs on their bags.
Although Amazon is often mentioned on these pages (they actually do have some amazing prices) another place that has great prices is Adorama in New York City. If you live in NYC and familiar with photography then you probably already heard of this store but if you live outside NY and still want to find extremely competitive prices and very knowledgeable sales associates then check out this Adorama website.
