There comes a time when someone has done something for so long that they are no longer driven or inspired to continue doing it and I'm saddened to say that I've reached this point with WyldRyde.

Today, I'm handing over control of WyldRyde to Jeff Weisbein and he'll be assuming the operation of WyldRyde from this point forward.

You'll still be able to find me on WyldRyde but I'm planning on playing a significantly smaller role there so I may fully dedicate myself to my photography and workshops/tours.

You can also keep in touch with me on Twitter at @usrbingeek and @vtphotog and on Facebook.

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Do respectable business owners go to their competitors' place of business, or send their employees and friends, to talk with their competitors' customers in an effort to get additional business?

This act is called solicitation and most business prominently display signs stating, "Solicitation and distribution of flyers on this premisses is prohibited."

Let's look at why this is called Solicitation and it's meaning. The New Oxford American Dictionary included with OS X describes it as follows;

solicit |səˈlisit|
verb ( -ited , -iting ) [ trans. ]
ask for or try to obtain (something) from someone : he called a meeting to solicit their views. See note at BEG .
• ask (someone) for something : historians and critics are solicited for opinions by the auction houses.
• [ intrans. ] accost someone and offer one's or someone else's services as a prostitute : [as n. ] ( soliciting) although prostitution was not itself an offense, soliciting was.

So, solicitation essentially means begging. When has begging ever been polite? Hell, prostitutes were thought to be so immoral that this word was applied to them in the last century.

I guess I was brought up different. I strongly believe this type of behavior is immoral. It's certainly not ethical, nor WJWD. I also believe it stinks of desperation and shows off the sleaziness of the snake that engages in it and/or encourages his friends to take part in it.

If you must hangout on a competitors' IRC Network at least have the decency not to promote or discuss your own. If you can't control yourself perhaps you shouldn't tempt yourself by using it. That's the ethical thing to do.

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I love Twitter. I even have a couple accounts. vtphotog for photography, birding, and Vermont related tweets and usrbingeek for IRC, politics, and more general subjects. However, Twitter is not completely free from drama or problems.

Recently, I silently unfollowed someone without any comment because of their constant personal attacks on another person that I followed. I have no interest in getting involved in their argument and wasn't getting anything valuable from following this person anyway so it wasn't a hard call to make. But, they must use one of those follow management services because they immediately sent me a particularly nasty email that restated some of their rants about the other person and also chastised me for unfollowing them. This situation has motivated me to put together this formal Twitter Follow Policy:

In general I follow my friends, associates, photographers, Vermonters and others that are otherwise interesting or funny, but only if I believe they are genuine, know what they're talking about and aren't insulting or disagreeable.

I don't try to limit my follower count to some arbitrary number but there are some things that will ensure that I wouldn't reciprocate your follow or could cause me to unfollow you, or maybe even block you. In no particular order, they are:

• Personal attacks or hate speech against any group or individual;
• Excessive updates within a very short period and are about nothing special;
• Excessive rants in all capital letters;
• Any Squidoo or Knol links or links to any "make money online" site that is just as bottom feeding and ridiculous as Squidoo;
• "*ad*" or "paid to twitter" posts;
• All or nearly all your posts are '@' relipes and are of no interest to anyone but who you're replying to (that's what DMs are for!!);
• Every, or nearly every twitter, is a link to your blog, your RSS feed, or something else you're promoting;
• You appear to be a minor and act like it;
• Bathroom updates or toilet humor (You're not Howard Stern, nor do I want to follow him either);
• DMs or excessive posts about #spymaster;
• Spammy with #followfriday (Don't be lazy or stupid and recommend the same accounts every week);
• Spammy posts about generating so many followers per day by signing up for a crummy service like tweeterfollow;
• Multiple "listening to" twitters within a short period;
• Automated DMs;
• If your profile doesn't mention your real name, where you're located, and/or have a photograph of yourself;
• No updates and I don't know you in real life;
• Appear to be a bot or any other type of spammer.

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The music is a bit strange but this video from a small camera attached to soaring Golden Eagle is quite amazing.

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Living in Vermont provides me with constant opportunities to make lots of landscape photographs. Everyday, no matter where I go I come across some picturesque scene and can't stop myself from photographing it. Sometimes even when I'm running behind or late. I hope I never become blasé to the beauty here.

There are many times of year when I do nothing but crisscross the entire state going to my favorite spots to make photographs at sunrise and sunset or wait hours at some barn until the clouds, light and shadows are "just right."

When the weather is changing and the sky is going to be dramatic I obsesses about going out to capture it and where I can work it best into some specific landscape. I couldn't care less if I get soaked in the process. All I want to do is get the image I pre-visualized.

My favorite thing though, is when I unexpectedly come across natural wildlife when shooting landscapes and working it into the scene or making it the prime subject. What kind of animals or birds it might be doesn't much matter to me.

I enjoy photographing Black-capped Chickadees, deer and voles just as much as Osprey, Bald Eagles, and Black Bears. But lately, I've gotten very serious about seeking out specific types, if not species, of wildlife to photograph rather than coming across it through happenstance and being an opportunistic photographer of it. It hasn't been easy.

I've been spending a lot of my free hours this winter freezing my toes off in a hunting blind and waiting for the wildlife. It takes a lot of patience and perseverance. Much to my own surprise I LOVE every freezing cold minute of it! I even enjoy the days where I didn't get one good image because nothing got close enough. The landscape and scenery is still breathtaking and the peace and quiet of the outdoors which is only interrupted by natural sounds like ice expanding or contracting, foot steps of animals walking through the snow or birds flying, landing, taking off or calling is sublime.

For the past couple weeks I've been photographing different species of diving ducks on Lake Champlain like the Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Hooded Mergansers, Lesser Scaup and Red-breasted Merganser. Up until a few weeks ago I never knew anything about them, let alone that they were here in Vermont. When I'm not working or out photographing them I've been reading about diving ducks and other waterfowl in Vermont. It's been such a fun experience observing, photographing and learning more about these fascinating and adorable birds.

Now through late April is a great time to view waterfowl in Vermont as many species stop here on their way to more northern breeding grounds. To watch them all you need to do is find open water (not ice), have a decent pair of binoculars, and keep still and quiet. (Its best to leave young children at home as they're unable to stay quiet or still long enough.) However, unfortunately to capture decent photographs of most waterfowl you need a lot of specialized gear as point and shoot cameras cannot provide the magnification (zoom), stability, or speed that is required.

The Lake Champlain Ferry Docks in Charlotte and Grand Isle have been good spots, when they're not frozen. (Grand Isle was completely frozen yesterday and Charlotte probably is or will be after today. But, later in the week I think the lake should open up again. Also note: You cannot go on Lake Champlain Ferry property unless you're crossing on the ferry but there are good vantage points near each.)

Sorry, I don't have any photographs to go with this post as I don't have the time (or drive) to sort/rate and digitally process any of these shots right now. As always, I'd much rather spend my time behind a camera making photographs than spending time sitting behind my computer.

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Earlier today PocketWizard announced their next generation of PocketWizard flash syncs and they look nothing short of amazing. Unfortunately, for Nikon shooters, we'll have to wait until the 2nd Quarter of 2009, whereas Canon's version will be available in March.

In short, you can dump all your unreilable PC sync cords and just slide these on your cameras and flashes and let your camera completely control the flash. You can still take over and do things manually if you like but wow, it sure sounds like using off camera flash just got really quick and simple.

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