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>In order to use computers even passably well, you have to be pretty good at reading and writing.... Even still photography is a lot more than pressing a button...

I agree with everything you said.

BUT -- The whole modern trend in computing is to use icons rather than text. Kids just have to know which pretty button to press, and in which order. And usually there's some oh-so-compassionate grad student near enough to tell them that. And, rather than needing to use the computer "passably well," these days all most kids do (in my experience) is plug stuff into slots of this or that template that some graphic artist put together for this or that software program. Perhaps I'm just cynical.

Speaking of photography, however -- if I can get off topic for just an instant -- I just read this book --

-- and I really recommend it. It's weird seeing Adams's stuff in color. Until I saw this book, I never even knew that he did color work, let alone a lot of it. It's great hearing his thoughts on color. There's nothing really earth shaking here, but really interesting and beautiful stuff.

Mark W.

You're right; I see a lot of web sites that look just awful because someone slotted their stuff in a FrontPage template you can spot a mile away.

It is now easier than ever to do things badly. But if you aspire to greatness, you have to break the mould and do most things yourself. Problem is that most people aspire to no more than mediocrity.

I've gotten some great sunset pictures with my Canon EOS D30 digital SLR (the digital camera to get if you want to control exposure yourself - controls are fantastic, but of course it was back-breakingly expensive). I'll have to send you a link when I put 'em up on the web. I'm no Ansel Adams, but some of them look just plain cool.