"It was late afternoon on Cat Island. Atop Mt. Alvernia, the hermitage was perched, under fast-moving clouds," said Jim Austin. "Steps leading up to this monastery were small. Near them was a tomb, where Father Jerome was buried."

"When Father Jerome arrived on Cat Island, he bought the highest hilltop he could see. It was called Comer Hill, and is, in fact, the highest hill in the Bahamas (206 feet) with a 360 degree view of the island."

"Before he died at age 80, Father Jerome hand built this Hermitage out of native rock, and constructed a bell tower, chapel, bedroom, two fireplaces, a cistern, the Stations of the Cross, hand laid steps up a 50 degree incline, and his own tomb. The roman numeral fourteen in this picture represents the tomb of Jesus and the rock at its entrance."

Jim used a Canon Rebel XT with a wide angle lens (10mm) and the ISO set to 100. The aperture was f-8.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story

"Below is a grab shot I took recently at Lee Canyon Ski Resort in the mountains just outside of Las Vegas," said Kevin Miller. "I am sure most of this Fed Ex employee's deliveries were done in the valley below under the relative warmth of the sun, hence the shorts. The uniform definitely seems out of place in the snow."

And yet he pushes on...

Kevin used a Canon 30D, with a 200mm lens set to f/2.8 in Aperture Priority mode. ISO was 100, and shutter speed was 1/2000 of a second.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story

"This pavement stallkeeper in Bangkok Thailand was not quite ready for customers when I spotted him from an elevated pedestrian walkway," said Steve Cooper. "In the busy evening traffic and with rapidly failing light, I had only a moment to catch him alone."

Steve used a Canon PowerShot Pro1 set to 1/40 at f-3.2 to catch the snoozing seller.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story

"I was walking around the beautiful city of Venice, and it was getting toward evening," said Howard A. Lewis. "I was losing the light and came across this square with the old man artist. A number of people were around, and I felt this would make a wonderful image. I had no tripod, so I knew that there would be some 'noise' in the image. But I thought it would look like a painting of the old man painting. I love the woman on the left pointing. When printed it looks exactly as I had anticipated. On canvas at 13"x19" matted and framed, it looks great."

Howard used a Nikon D200 with an 18-200mm zoom set to 38mm. He pushed the ISO up to 1600 to get an exposure of 1/20 at f-3.5 (wide open). He was in Aperture Priority mode.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. We'll try to get it published for you on The Digital Story.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story

"When I saw the entrance with a neon open sign," said Jay Hunt, "I couldn't resist taking a couple of shots. It seemed so foreboding and beckoning at the same time. There was nothing but this black void after a couple of steps and the eerie light of the sign -- it was like someone from the 'dark side' saying, 'Come in if you dare.' I converted the image to black and white to work with the mysterious mood and to make it seem even more timeless."

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story

"While at the recent Nikon Expo in London, the model got bored waiting round for her session to start," said Matt Newsome. "Inset is the great look she could pull for the camera on demand, whereas I think her expression in this shot is probably the more honest one!"

Matt captured his grab shot with an Apple iPhone in existing light at f-2.8.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances. Next week is a busy one for me in the Bay Area of Northern California. Check out speaking events for Book Passage in Corte Madera and at Macworld in San Francisco.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story

"The evening the light was amazing," said Alexey Stiop. "I was outside when I noticed the sky turning purple. I rushed in the house to grab my camera. I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to set up my tripod -–every second counts at sunsets. I leaned against the wall trying to stabilize the camera (I also used image stabilized lens) and took a series of shots within 5 minutes. I had my camera (Canon XTi) set in Aperture Priority mode at f/4 and exposed for the sky. I ended up with a number of decently sharp images at 1/5 sec exposure. This one had the peak color."

The Canon XTi was set to ISO 200 and handheld at 1/5th of a second with the zoom at 17mm. Minutes later, the shot was gone...

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story

"This is a shot of Boulder Creek in Boulder, Colorado during a recent snowstorm," said Mark Castleman. "There was hardly any color in the scene to begin with, so converting it to black & white actually brought out the image better. I bracketed the shot from 0ev to +2ev in 0.5ev increments to compensate for the snow throwing off the exposure and +1.0 seemed to look best to me."

Mark used a Pentax K10D, Pentax 18-55mm lens, 1/30. f/9.5, +1.0ev, ISO 100, converted to black & white in Aperture.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, grab shot, The Digital Story

"I recently captured this shot of these tiny beetles on a 'feverfew daisy' in my garden," said Ruth Cooper. "These flowers which are about 1/2" in diameter, are honey-scented, and are very attractive to insects. These little fellows, (about the size of a pin-head,) apparently weren't about to miss the last drop of nectar!"

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story

OK, here's one I can't quite figure out. While traveling back from Southern California on a recent road trip, I encountered this bathroom with not one, but two toilet paper dispensers. One roll was positioned high (about elbow height when standing) and the other the normal low position next to the toilet seat.

I have my theories about this arrangement... but I'll just keep them to myself.

I captured this high/low arrangement with an Apple iPhone under existing light. I could have gone out to the car for my DSLR... but, well, that would have been just too weird.

Photo by Derrick Story

If you want to see one of the reasons why I was driving around in the first place, take a look at this pyrotechnic plane.

If you have a candid you'd like to share, take a look at our Submissions page, then send us your Grab Shot. If we publish it, you'll receive an ultra cool custom carabineer keychain.

And you can view more images from our virtual camera club in the Member Photo Gallery.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: candid, digital photography, grab shot, The Digital Story