I’m a photographer by avocation. I began my formal training at the University of Colorado under Gary Metz and Charlie Roitz. Film, baby, film.

Fast forward through years (okay, a lot of years) to the arrival of digital photography, specifically digital SLRs, at a price point accessible to normal people. As an engineer, mastering the mechanics, the technology, of digital photography was relatively easy. But understanding exactly how a paintbrush works doesn’t mean you can paint. More years, and tens of thousands of digital photographs later, I feel like I’m beginning to get it.

About once a year, I try to sneak off and take an on-location shoot-and-critique class with someplace like the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. Basically 5 days of rising before sunrise, shooting all morning, critiquing each others' work all afternoon, shooting all evening, madly editing/curating the next day's show until the wee hours, then a few hours of sleep. Repeat.

These days, I’ve swapped out all of my larger SLR gear for micro-four-thirds gear. Cool functionality, great lenses, but no mirrors or prisms and much, much smaller and lighter.

Even better, I'm now experimenting with ProCamera and the OlloClip for my iPhone. The best camera is...