Thanks Bingo. I did some editing to darken the sky and mute the colours (except for the red traffic lights). Am just learning to use Photoshop, but I must admit, it feels a bit like cheating...

Here is a shot I took in downtown Toronto.

This one is really cool.

I am still learning my way around the DLSR and have not had a lot of time to practice. Here is the best I have gotten out of it so far:

Here are some pictures I took in Montreal before I got a DSLR. These were taken on a Sony HX9V.

Thanks for this! The graduated filter is a really great tip. I have so much to learn... Keep the great pics coming!

Beautiful! What settings did you use to use to achieve this? More generally, many of your pictures have a really neat light vs. shade quality. is this done the same (similar) way each time or is it quite varied?

Tough crowd!

Stunning!

The avatar I see for you is not Jimmy. It is a woman (presumably you?) with a flower in her hair.

Greenman, Thanks for your thoughts above. I think a macro lens is the next thing on my list. What kind of a macro lens did you use for those dew pictures?

Well, I bit the bullet and bought a camera this weekend. I ended up going with the Cannon 60D. After a long conversation with a very knowledgeable saleswoman, we decided that this was easy enough for me to use right away, but also had enough room for growth that I would not get bored of it too quickly. I know Bsprled speaks pretty highly of her 40D (even though she has moved on now), so that helped to seal the deal for me. For now I would be happy to take pictures half as good as some of the ones she took on hers. I bought a couple of Cannon lenses at the same time - 18-200mm and 50mm. I also got UV filters, an extra battery and a small knapsack for lugging everything around. I have not had too much time to play around with the camera, but from what I have seen so far, I think I will enjoy it very much. So now my next questions: How do I learn to take great pictures? What is next lens I should be buying to give me even more versatility?

Thanks Greenman. You are obviously very knowlegeable about this topic. I appreciate the help. And both you and Brspled have posted some pretty great pictures. Keep them coming!

That is the problem. I don't really know what kind of pics I want to take. I like landscape and architecture shots, but I also like interesting portraits (or at least pictures with people in them - like some of the pictures brspled has posted). Is the subject matter a function of the camera you buy, or can you just change lenses as necessary? I am prepared to spend decent $$ on a camera (probably up to about $2k), because I think I would get a lot of enjoyment out of it. I would want, of course want to spend less if possible (i.e. if the extra money would be spent of features I won't ever use), but the big limiting factor for me would not be the cost. I am prepared, within reason, to spend what it takes to get something good. Size is the real issue. I have always bought super slim point and shoots because I knew if I bought small cameras I would not have an excuse not to take them with me. The HX9V is the biggest camera by far that I have had in the past 10 years and it still fits (relatively well) into a jacket pocket. I think at first, i would use an SLR when photography is the focus of the day, rather than when going somewhere that I may want to take some pictures. I expect I would still carry a point and shoot for the other days. If that was indeed how I used an SLR, size would become less important. What is worrisome though is that I would love the SLR so much I would want to take it out all the time and I would find a bulky camera limiting.

I don't have a fancy SLR camera, though I think it will be one of my next purchases. I don't really know how to use one. Any tips on what kind of camera to get? Should I get one geared towards beginners or should I get something more fancy and grow into it? Notwithstanding that I don't have an SLR I managed to capture these two shots on a Sony HX9V (a fairly sophisticated point and shoot) last night at the Pearl Jam concert in Toronto. The camera has a "sports" setting which speeds up the shutter and is really good for catching high speed action.

If I recall right, when I saw it in Toronto it started almost exactly on time (8pm).

Starseed is a great track. Here is a fun fact - Raine Maida went to the same high school as me, except back then he was Mike Maida. Unfortunately, he was a few years ahead of me and I didn't really know him.

...The Guess Who, Our Lady Peace...

Just looked on ticketmaster. It seems there is a presale for "circle of friends" and "promoter presale". Anybody have any idea how to get on these lists?

I was at the 1998 Toronto show. It was awesome. The crowd was so into it and the boys did not disappoint. I have fond memories of that concert, truly one of the best I have ever been to. I am not so adept at the torrent thing, but did manage to track down a few good clips of the show from YouTube. Search "Page Plant Toronto" and you will find them. I would love to have the show in its entirety.