I will start this post with a mathematics example. When I began photography horse racing, as a freelance photographer, there was an editorial market in print magazines. The cost of an airfare between Canberra and Melbourne could be bought for $99 (return!) if you bought according to various conditions. The price of the top of the line Nikon camera was $4,500 and you didn't need a laptop. I was a few years off from being able to purchase the 300mm f2.8 lens I so desired, but it was on the horizon. I did need a film scanner, at about $2,500 and a desktop computer, and of course had to spend decent money at the lab. I used to get paid between $50 to $100 (plus GST ) for a colour photograph to be published in a magazine, and if it was published outside this narrow editorial market, you could get up to $350 for the same image. A cover image was from memory at least $250 (plus GST ). Fast forward the clock 10 years to 2010. We are now in the digital age. My $2500 digital camera had to be

The Apple Mac. It's supposed to be the be all and end all. Right??? I bought mine, a MacBook Pro, with great excitement and anticipation, back in April 2009. It was supposed to be part of the brand new Bronwen Healy Photography look and feel, as I launched into photography as my sole profession, having juggled the photography with a 'real' paying job at CSIRO for some 15 years. Since that time, the Apple, whilst no doubt lovely (I also plunged in and bought the most gorgeous 24" cinema LCD display, to make things easier on my eyes, as a 15" laptop screen is hard on the eyes when working on high resolution images) the Mac has spent over a month being repaired. First, in August 2009, the DVD burner failed. Off to the repairers (not until December though, as I couldn't be without the machine during this busy period for the 10 days it would take to repair it - read the fine print in your AppleCare Protection Plan - there is NO on-site repairs done on laptops) to h