This is a terrific, (mostly) sensible, hallelujah can I get a witness post with advice for women traveling solo. Road Junky, as usual, tells it like it is. For example, on bringing a journal: So tell your journal all about the delicious club sandwich you had for lunch and spare your friends the boring stories.

Gena Haskett took a comprehensive look at how you can safely and legally photograph or video record your vote. After you read her primer, grab your camera and whether you vote early or on November 4, we hope you'll share your photos and videos.

I love picture gifts - I admit it. I love to give them and I love to receive them. This may have a little something to do with the fact that in the three years since becoming a digital SLR fanatic I've logged over 20,000 images on my various hard drives. (Don't ask me how many of these actually make it into print, because the percentage would be very, very low. But the ones that have? Priceless.)

Unless you have avoided internet surfing this month, you've seen a lot of pumpkin photos and Jack-o-Lantern photos. What you might not know is that there are tricks and tips to help you photograph lit Jack-o-Lanterns. I've read about a half dozen of these "tips and tricks" and it seems to all come down to one thing... resist the flash!

The 10 billionth photo was uploaded to  Facebook this month. 10 billionth.

Photography changed my life. My first photography teacher told us that photographs give us the most accurate record of our lives, and I believe this more and more the longer I devote myself to picture-taking. This is why I love looking at other peoples' photographs as much as taking my own, and I especially love to see young people excited about photography.

I walked into a photgraphy classroom three years ago with a cheap Canon SLR and no idea what I was doing. The first time an image that I had photographed appeared when I submerged the photo paper in the developer, I said, "Ooh. Magic" out loud and meant it. My professor said, "Yeah. That's how it hooks you." It totally did, as my family and friends and my overworked credit card will attest.

What's the difference between a Laurie who shoots with a Nikon and a Laurie who shoots with a Canon again? NO, not lipstick, silly - just a jerk of a camera thief at the DNC.

Recently, I interviewed photographer Rick Smolan, who - along with his wife and creative partner, Jennifer Erwitt - put together the new photo book, “America at Home: A Close-Up Look at How We Live" from Running Press.

One of the best things about finding a good craft blog, whether it's someone using yarn, fabric, paper, tin, or plastic, is seeing the photographs of a person's work. When an item is well-photographed, the hand of the creator can be seen in the work. It's almost like touching the product. However, taking a great photograph is not the easiest thing to do.

It's a beautiful day and Dad has taken the kids out to play on an inflatable slide; they're all laughing and having a great time, and he snaps some pictures of the fun... until he's called a pervert and told to stop. I think that sounds like a plot for a ridiculous, contrived fiction story, but it's what actually happened to the U.K.'s Gary Crutchley when he was on an outing with his two sons and other parents protested his picture-taking:

Since Bruce Schneier published his June 5 Guardian essay asking the question, "Are photographers really a threat?", this weary topic is being revisited. Amidst the paranoia-fest that has moved in since 9/11, taking a photograph has become suspect activity. Many shutterbugs I know have been questioned and harassed by police officers and over-zealous security guards who believe they are protecting the country from some elaborate evil plan that evidently cannot engage without some glossy 8x10s.