You should find everything you need to learn about photography listed in the resources here. From the basics of aperture and f-stops and composition to the most amazing "how did they do that" wow photographs, you’ll find something here about it.

First, though, a word about your right to take pictures when and where you want.

Free To Shoot?

Rights that have been taken for granted for millenia (for drawing/painting) and for a hundred or more years since the invention of photography, are increasingly coming under attack from the growing mega-state, especially since the "war on terror" began. These sites call abuses to attention and remind us what it says at the bottom of my main photography page:

For Beginners

There are lots of tutorials on the web, including a few free ones; most are offered as lead-ins to commercial training. There are also many books (see below).

Photographers to Study

It’s impossible to make a complete list! Here are some of the "old masters" as well as more recent ones I like.

  • Ansel Adams

  • Diane Arbus

  • Robert Capa

  • Henri Cartier-Bresson

  • David duChemin

  • Walker Evans (photographer for James Agee’s Famous book)

  • Chase Jarvis

  • Dorothea Lange

  • Annie Leibovitz

  • Joe McNally

  • Cristina Mittermeier

  • Michelle Valberg

  • Edward Weston

  • Finally, here is Ken Rockwell’s list of contemporary photograpers whom he likes.

Non-Profits / Service Opportunities

Books about Photography

Photography Schools

Schools - Canadian (Ontario)

Schools - Online - General

Schools Offering One or a few photo courses

Trade Shows

  • CES - Consumer Electronics Show - annual in January in Vegas (lots of other realms besides photography)

  • ProFusionExpo - free photo show yearly in Toronto

  • Photokina, Berlin

Web Resources

Magazines

Magazines: Canadian

  • PhotoNews, ad-sponsored, quarterly, good quality articles, free circulation in some stores, and free hardcopy subscription by mail to Canada, English or Francais.

  • Outdoor Photography Canada.

  • PhotoLife, Canada’s member of TIPA. Art-quality magazine with technical articles. Six issues per year. Hardcopy subscription $27/year. English only(?).

Magazines: US

Software for Photographers

Free Software

  • DigiKam, a great catalogger with some editing and the ability to use other tools like Gimp, upload to common photo sites, etc).

  • The Gimp (Open Source’s answer to PhotoShop)

  • LightZone which not only is free but is written in the Java programming language so it runs on Mac, Windows and Linux

  • DarkTable

  • Longer List of Free Software

Commercial Software

The reigning champion of fancy editing tools is, of course, Adobe Photoshop. Almost everybody in the photographic software arena makes their plugins and actions compatible with Photoshop.

Adobe Lightroom is the cataloging, raw-format import, and lightweight editing tool that accompanies Photoshop but is also often used on its own.

Adobe no longer sells these products (though you can still find them on eBay). Instead, they rent them. The Creative Cloud Photography package is US$9.99/month for the package of two, which is not a bad deal if you’d previously have spent $1000 on the software and had to upgrade every couple of years anyway…​ since you always have the latest version, and have it (and your photos) on all your devices.

And speaking of Photoshop, this commercial training company offers some free tutorials on Photoshop

Cameras and Gear

Choosing

Accessories

Dealers: Canadian

Dealers: USA

Not listed - there are too many! Adorama, B+H, 47th Street and Amazon are generally good. On Amazon, each seller sets their own return policy: caveat emptor!

Vendor-specific Links

I’m a Nikon guy so I only maintain Nikon resources. If you want Canon, Sony, Pentax, etc., then remember the immortal words of Obi-Wan Kenobi:

Use the search, Luke!

When You Are Very Good

Getting PhotoBooks Made

There are zillions of companies that will make picture books from your digital images. These ones either are known good or at least have been at it for a while:

Selling Your Photos - Stock Agencies

Despite the trillions of photographs that can be downloaded free, there are still a zillion online stock photo agencies. These have been around for a while:

The new 500-pound gorilla on the block is Adobe Stock.

As well, there are companies that will sell your work as prints:

Thinking of Going Pro?