Scattered Thoughts . . .

As many of you know, a group of us attend the annual Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show every January. It is now the time of year when we must start counting heads and reserving rooms. The number of hotels offering special rates for this event has diminished significantly this year. Actually, most of the hotels offering price breaks are hotels we would not stay at even if they were free! This has severely limited our options this year. We have decided to try to reserve a block of rooms at the La Quinta Hotel in Springfield. La Quinta is not offering any kind of event pricing nor group pricing so we are stuck with regular rates minus a AAA discount. Fortunately, La Quinta is only slightly more expensive than the event rate we were offered last year. Unfortunately, although only slightly more expensive, this means the price has increased nevertheless. We stayed at La Quinta last year and we had a nice time. The location was very convenient... the hotel was clean... a

January is always our "train show month".  This is when we head down to Springfield, Massachusetts every year for the largest train show in the northeast.  Actually, I would not be surprised if this is the largest train show in the country every year.   The Amherst Railway Society's Annual Railroad Hobby Show is a very large and amazing event which is not only a lot of fun all weekend long, but it is also a very productive fundraiser.  The primary beneficiary of this fundraiser is always a children's hospital.  Since we have been attending the show I believe the Bay State Children's Hospital has been the recipient each year. Additionally, a dozen or two historical railroads and railroad museums receive proceeds each year as well.   In the years we have been attending the show, I believe we have seen between 50,000-60,000 visitors at each show.  Considering the problems we had this year in finding hotel accomodations, a few months in advance, I suspect this yea

In today's digital world where almost everyone carries a camera of some sort around with them each and every moment of every day, we sort of take the art of photography for granted. We can even easily forget that photography is an art. Cameras are in virtually all mobile communication and media devices.  Compact cameras are relatively inexpensive and the amount of available models is mind-boggling.  There is a vast array of photography-enthusiast cameras.  There are professional cameras.  There are security cameras.  There are traffic cameras.  There are news cameras.  There are webcams, Skype and Face-Time.  We are immersed in photos all day long...  but, do we truly understand how to effectively use these devices we call cameras? Cameras are tools made to capture an image.  Each camera is different.  Each camera has its weaknesses.  Each camera has its strengths.  The person handling this tool must understand light, shadow, tonal contrast, color, aperature, shutter speed, sen