David Ruether says, "Bye...!" ;-) 12-01-00, on VX-1000 VU board, copy to Hal Landen

For the last few years I have offered on the 'net advice
and answers to questions on photography and video,
free, based on my direct experiences in these media.
I have based my posts not on "current wisdom", what
a magazine reviewer may have said, or what a theory
predicts - but based instead on practical, personal
experiments and experience. By way of background,
I have been involved in photography for almost forty
years, as an artist (my work has been shown in over
forty museum shows, and has been purchased by
several museums, including the Museum of Modern
Art, the George Eastman House, and others - and I
have taught photography at the college level, and
I have had a book of photographs published); and as
a commercial photographer (I have made my living
this way, with many satisfied customers - and have
had magazine articles written about my work).
I have been working with video for about five years
(as an extension of early work in film), in both the
art and commercial fields, and I now make some
of my income with video work (in addition to
photography, and lately, building video-editing
computers). Other interests include audio (I have
designed and built audio gear, and have published
construction articles on some of these projects), and
writing on the 'net (I have written about 5000 posts,
mostly intended to help people...;-). Some articles
of possible interest from these writings are on my
web page (they include "babblings" on seeing and
perspecive, perceptions, a 4-way glasses solution,
a complete list of Nikkor SLR lenses with evaluations
[this has become a well-known 'net reference article],
an article critically reviewing several Mini-DV
camcorders, and others.), along with examples of my
photography and of some of my other interests (the
web address is: www.David-Ruether-Photography.com for those
who may want to look). In my years of writing posts,
my advice has been sought by many people, including
heads of medical colleges, scientists in Antartica,
physicists, and other surprising folks - and by the
many who may just want to know such things as
whether or not it is OK to use a filter on a lens...;-)
In the process of writing these posts, I have had many
interesting exchanges with people of good sense,
humor, and intelligence (and sometimes these
exchanges have actually taught me a thing or two...;-).
Once in a great while, though, someone like a T.E.D.
comes along who spoils all exchanges, making them
both useless for getting at truth, and unenjoyable.
Since my pay for writing here is so high ($0...) and
the rewards so great (exchanges with T.E.D. and his
alter-egos/aliases, which have unfortunately sometimes
drawn me down to his level), I choose not to continue
writing on this board. I have other things I can do...
Thanks, though, to all others who have been a
pleasure to "be" with...
David Ruether