As for the post about not needing the expensive camera I thing that it does really pays back more to invest the money for a decent photography course. I have just taken one few months ago and I simply loved it (it was both good school and wonderful week off). I have posted some shots from it in my blog http://blog.dems.art.pl/en (the blog is run in Polish, so the link redirects to google translator… the photos are original though ;P ).

Best regards, and please keep posting on iffles.com (I think there is a big need for a blog like yours, about photography and open source software)