Shooting helps with shooting

The picture below is one of my favorites that I've taken with my digital camera. It's of the inside of Hoover Dam, of the Nevada side turbines. It's an 18mm lens, (an 18-70mm, zoomed all the way out) at 1/10 second, hand held. I'm pretty pround of the picture, too. It's got a little blur to it, but considering it's at 1/10 of a second, shot "offhand," I'm pleased. My aunt (a rather gifted photographer) didn't believe I could take a picture like that without a tripod. I explained it was from shooting rifles, and since she doesn't really like guns (she's become quite the Manhattanite), the conversation ended there.

To help with holding your camera steady, practice offhand with a rifle. Anyway, without further ado, here's the picture (click for ginormous size):



And, because I'm not paying for bandwidth, here's a picture my aunt took that I rather like:



Oh, a photography/shooting story involving my aunt: When I was a little kid (probably four--that's how old I am in all my aunt's stories about me), I, well, resembled Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes. I was talking to my aunt about hunting, or something like that, and she said that she likes to shoot animals, too. But she used a camera. I replied very matter-of-factly, "but that's not as good."