[Garth Herrick]

Thanks Marvin, Josef, Mary, Ngaire, and SB: It is wonderful to be so instantly welcomed. I am not used to such comradery (I've never used this word before so I had to look up the spelling). A studio can be a very solitary place without this forum.

Marvin: I am so impressed with your work! I hope you take it as a compliment that I think your portraits are on par with Ingres. Your sense of design is great; the precision of your eye and hand are razor sharp; and as a technician, you seem unparalleled. These are all areas I need to improve; so your praise feels very high to me. Thankyou.

I checked out the Canon website and the Powershot Pro 1 is very impressive indeed at ISO 50. There are no sample pictures at ISO 400, but I bet they begin to show some noise there. ISO 400 on a D70 will be very negligable if it has the same chracteristics as a D100. This is because of the pixel pitch (or distance between each pixel). The pixel pitch is three times greater on a D70 than on a Powershot Pro 1.

What I would do Marvin, is purchase a Compact Flash storage media card (any capacity will do), since both cameras use the same card. Go to a camera store and take each camera for a comparative test drive in the store with your personal card, then go download the test pictures and see which camera offers the best balance of picture quality for your needs. I tried this myself a few years back.

Josef: Thanks for your welcome. I love your interactive layered portrait on your website. You are also an incredible draftsman. I don't consider myself to be particularly good at draftsmanship. My finished paintings are the result of thousands of drawing corrections. I don't know if I could pull off a before and after overlay as successfully as you have.

Mary: Thanks! This was my first portrait sculpture, and I had to learn everything on the fly, in front of the client. Just get some clay and start playing with it. You will find your way. It is a whole new way of thinking. In 3D, you can't get away with any distortions as easily as you can in paint. This is very challenging and frustrating at first, and it makes you really appreciate that you are an accomplished 2D painter.

Ngaire: Thats why I am here too. There is just so much collective experience to draw upon. There is benefit for everyone. As far as typing goes, I'm about as slow as it gets as I hunt and peck.

SB: Thanks, I need to explore the SOG galleries some more.

Garth