This may seem too obvious a suggestion but Ansel Adams autobiography is a very good read. He's quite a witty fellow and shares his many mishaps as readily as his triumphs. Writes about the discipline of playing the piano and the mechanics of getting the shot. Anecdotes hobnobbing with folks we've all heard of and possibly even admired. Stories about running his early darkroom without electricity(?) and loading a magnesium flash with too much powder and incredibly how his own printing of his same images over a span of many years would change as his general perception of things did. It's all in there, government commissions, collaboration developing the zone system and intimate details of building his own LF enlarger and final darkroom. Hiking trails, climbing mountains, running out of film... You may find a copy at your friendly local library. Lance ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a message dated 12/26/2006 8:50:37 PM Eastern Standard Time, eroustom@xxxxxxxxxxx writes: Thank you for that insight Slobodan. Eight years of printing others' design work has made me a much better, and more flexible designer and printer than I could have been out of school, or behind a computer screen, so I fully understand what you're saying. A good book or two to read wouldn't be bad though. E. On Dec 26, 2006, at 3:01 PM, Slobodan Dimitrov wrote: > My best education in photography, besides the sit downs with > working photographers, was when I worked at a rental BW darkroom > while in college. It made me quit my photo classes, as I was > getting far more from the job through others' mistakes and > successes, than I was getting at school. I also wound up switching > majors, to something completely non-photographic. The ability to > visualize from another perspective, other than what one gets from > photo school, was invaluable in making me a better photographer. > > Slobodan Dimitrov > http://www.sdimitrovphoto.com/ > >