Sorry to take so long to get back to you. Mmm, let's see about your original questions.

Cameras and gear? I use Nikon digital cameras (2) with mostly Nikon lenses and flash. I got stuck on Nikon in college (waaaaay back in the day!) and just stayed there ever since.

Favorite themes or subjects? I'm really a photojournalist by training so almost everything I do with a camera is based on that foundation. That is, the work is meant to tell a human story for public view and consumption. Of late, that's Camp Quixote, New Orleans and the Gulf Coast recovery efforts, Chehalis area flooding, my growing list of bluegrass musician friends, visits to our favorite places on the coast (Long Beach Peninsula, mostly), the cats, the garden, the cats in the garden, casual snapshots of family and friends, activities and personalities in and around St. John's Episcopal Church (our church "family"). That sort of stuff. I also occasionally get called up to perform an assignment for World Vision. That's how I was introduced to the post-Katrina world in the Gulf Coast six weeks after the hurricane struck in 2005.

Explore more? Oh gosh, just about anything that pops up! I tend to shoot in spurts with a fair amount of "down time" between them. I'd like to get back to a couple of photography styles, if that's what you call them, I've experimented with over the years. One is panoramic photography. It's all changed with digital tools available and I keep wanting to dive in. I also love playing with the old black and white infrared technology. You know, those shots where the sky is pitch black and green foliage turns a ghostly white. Again, the digital age has changed just about every technical aspect of that.

Another thing I occasionally do is pull out my old negatives (mostly b&w) and color transparencies, scan them into the 'puter and rework them in Photoshop. I could about spend a lifetime on that alone.

I'm also getting steeped in video now and am pouring lots of energy into that. I had the privilege of taking a quality video camera and mic equipment to New Orleans and now have three hours of interviews and B roll to wade through. Shooting video is great fun. Post production editing is something else; a very steep learning curve for me. I'm learning on my own computer and also training at TCTV to be another one of their home-grown producers.

Quality of light? I like the suggested Oyster Light theme though I can't say I have any kind of approach to it that differs from other kinds of light. I grew up and learned my craft in the humid Midwest where the light is often a hazy silver affair, especially in summer. I can't say I notice the quality of light in New Orleans much different than here. Next time we go I'll try to take a closer look.

I think I tend to shoot less in winter here than summer so I'm more familiar with the warm, glowing warm-weather light I find the most enjoyable in our region. This assumes, of course, working outdoors. I do a fair amount of work indoors where the lighting challenges are another animal altogether.

Hey, great conversation Sarah. Let's keep in touch.