Livingston 365 is my project to take a snapshot of something, someone, or somewhere in Livingston every day during 2009. See the series and check for daily updates at livingston365.com (a.k.a. e-livingston.com). Livingston 365 gallery shows and press coverage Livingston Center for Art and Culture: April 14 to May 2, 2009 The Frame Garden Gallery: April 15 to June 23 The Backroom at The Danforth Gallery: August 27 through September Upcoming: Photos (other than the daily photo) taken in the course of the project will be in the “Wind Exhibit” at The Livingston Center for Art and Culture from September 8 through the end of September, with a reception during Art Walk on September 25. HoboEye Volume 4.2, the quarterly online arts journal. The Livingston Current: August 29 (Volume 5, Issue 7) Artist Profile, “The Eye Behind the Camera: Livingston 365.”

I was given a Sigma lens for a Nikon 70 (film SLR) years ago, and then started using it on my Nikon D80 (digital SLR) this past year with mixed results. I won’t go into why I felt short-handed with the old lens, but will say that I was not entirely unhappy when I dropped the camera right on the lens while cavorting with the dogs down by the Yellowstone River. The ground was pretty soft, and the D80 is unscathed, thank goodness. However, I now have an excuse to buy a new and better lens. (I will confess that I am neither a patient or a gifted amateur photographer, but I know very well that fine pictures can be achieved with inexpensive or inferior lenses. In short, I will not blame my tools.) In the process of deciding what to get in a new lens–something that can be overwhelming if you need to brush up on everything you ever sort of knew about lens behaviors, from focal lengths to vibration reduction–I came across this great Web site: http://www.kenrockwell.com. Ken Rockwell is a photographer who knows a wide range of equipment, and–best of all in my former-tech-writer/instructor heart–he knows how to talk about it. I’d zeroed in on the Nikon 18-200mm for its versatility...