[link] A very easy to understand introduction to flash photography.
Seen the movie? Continue on Strobist ([link]).

Something strange happened to me today. Every year, the police corps holds a memorial for the soldiers who fought (and died) in WW II in Antwerp. There's a fanfare, a police march, speeches and what we call a "Kranslegging" (placing round stacks of flowers on a monument - can't find the english word for it). It's just around the block, so I went there, with my camera.

Now here's the weird thing: I couldn't make any photo's. Not because of a law, or technical limitations. But because it felt so utterly wrong. There were other photographers there, some professional ones, some family of those involved. I didn't see anything wrong with them snapping away, yet the moment I took my camera out of the bag, I felt horrified.
Why?

I think because my intentions weren't right. This memorial is a serious business, it is about people who died for their fatherland. It is about the suffering of all the incomplete families. It is about morals, ideals, courage, bravery, cowardice, war, sacrifice, death, life and so much more. I was there hoping to make nice images. Photographing there would be a shameless act of opportunism. I had no right to photograph those things, because I was neither involved, nor doing it for its newsworthy value (contrary to when I photographed Terezin, a concentration camp in Czechia).

The whole ordeal made me start thinking about the role of photographers in modern society. Are we not going a bit too far in our quest for quality photo's? Is killing butterflies so you can photograph them (it's nearly impossible to catch the buggers when they're flying around) a reasonable course of action? If someone in a wheelchair falls of a step of stairs, should you really take your camera and make a shot of the helpless mass of human flesh?

[link]

"Do you know someone who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate? Who growls or scowls or grunts or winces when accosted with pleasantries by people who are just trying to be nice?"