Let's revisit that hammer analogy. Say you spent some time time learning how to hammer nails. After a couple of smashed thumbs you got pretty good at it. You bought a decent hammer, then decided that was not good enough for your nail-hammering prowess and bought a better one.

You even built a collection of all kinds of nails, to be ready to hammer nails into damn-near anything. Now you can proudly call yourself a nail hammerer. So you sit back and wait for the opportunities and experiences to roll in. Which they might, or might not. But worrying about all of that other stuff is not your problem. You're a nail hammerer, dammit.

Dan Swift, of Buffalo, NY sits in the Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica where he is studying biodiversity at the Monteverde Institute. (From an OA post, here.)
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I married photography at a very young age.

That's a pretty loaded statement, and one that carries with it many connotations. That's because we all intuitively understand the risks in getting married too young. But the analogy holds true for photography, or at least my path in it.

This site exists mostly for one reason: to help you to get comfortable with learning how to use your flashes. But what then? What next?

Every day I try to spend as much time walking as my schedule will allow. Ideally, I just head off into the woods and shoot for at least ten miles a day. I don't always hit that goal, but even on a bad day I'll get most of it.

That's because long walks invariably pay for the time they cost in many ways: health, mental well-being, increased fitness and maybe best of all, a steady stream of ideas.

Of those ideas, there is one type that constantly proves itself to be the most valuable to me as a photographer. And that is the concept of the manufactured opportunity.

Earlier this month I had the honor to host (read: did not have to compete in) the Gulf Photo Plus 2014 Shootout, which this year featured Zack Arias vs. Sara Lando. Zack is a multi-year veteran, Sara is a newb. You'd think she'd be an easy put-down. You'd be wrong.

Having been the first person to walk out on stage in the first-ever shootout in 2010, I can tell you it is absolutely terrifying. You feel as if you have made a terrible mistake, and that you have everything to lose and nothing to gain.

You feel as if the creative part of your brain just announced, "Eff this. I'm outta here." and you watched it walk out of the room.

What I am trying to say is for any of you thinking, "I'd love to do that! That looks like fun!"

No. It's terrifying.

Also, it's hard capture the pure tension of this event in a time-compressed video. But just imagine how you would have handled the challenge. Or, more accurately, how you'd like to think you would have handled it.

For a very good look at what it truly feels like to compete in this, read Sara's post mortem she filed right after the experience.

And yes—long pants! Too long, actually. I grabbed a pair that had not yet been hemmed as I was headed out the door for Dubai. But that just averages out for years of shorts, I guess. The bow tie was a last-second call, and a gift from Sara. Me primitive. Me not have that much style.

Finally, if you ever, ever get the chance to go to Gulf Photo Plus, make sure you do not leave before attending the shootout in person. It's truly awesome.

Comments? Jeers? Use hashtag #GPPShootout.
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Newspapers may be circling the drain at this point, but for 150 years they were king of the hill. And the 20 years I spent there proved to be a great ride as well as a non-stop idea lab.

Today we'll take a look back at how we developed our multi-budget solutions for lighting winter indoor sports—specifically in high school gymnasiums. Lighting indoor sports opens up a whole new world as compared to trying to shoot available light. You can both freeze action and define the quality of the light in a much better way than the spotty existing overheads.

And for the sake of argument, let's assume only one rule: no on-camera direct flash. Because that looks horrible. Other than that, any lighting scheme is fair game for exploitation. Also, I don't have access to all of my sports archives at the papers so we'll be sticking to cookbook-type lighting diagrams to visualize placement and coverage.