The Last Speedlinks of 2008, Evar

Before you hit the party circuit for New Year's Eve, a batch of speedlinks that you will never regret reading the next morning. Drive safe, get the hangover remedies ready before you actually need them, and we'll see you in 2009...
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Speedinks: 12/31/2008

• Do you brave the winter weather for your art when you are out to get photos of wildlife in snow? Do you go even further and drag lights out to amp the quality a little? Yeah, well, when you get back to the house Moose Peterson would appreciate it if you could not track all that snow in.

And maybe bring him a cup of hot chocolate, too. He'll be in the cushy leather chair in his office.

• Dustin Snipes has a coupla really nice On-Assignment-style posts, one on a hoops portrait and the other a shot of a boxer.

Thanks for the diagrams and setup shots, Dustin!

• My friend John Makely, who knew his way around a camera when we shot together at The Baltimore Sun, now lives in the air conditioning in a soft chair in front of a big-ass monitor and edits a gazillion photos a day for MSNBC. If you want one last look at the visual side of 2008, check out the EOY package he and his colleagues put together.

• Have you ever shot a football game that Sports Illustrated also was covering and wondered exactly what their guy is shooting while you are busy praying for that one nice shot? After watching SI shooter Dave Bergman's 1,304-photo montage of his shoot from the SEC championship game, I am gonna start calling him Hoover. Dude does not miss much.

Also cool to watch that game as a Gator fan, as it propelled Florida into the national championship game against Oklahoma on January 8th. (Go Gators, beat OU.)

• And last but not least: While you are out playing with your new toys this week, Strobist reader Stephen Zeller recently was doing the same thing. Only his new toy is the weapons system on the U.S. Navy's newest Arleigh-Burke class Destroyer, the USS Sterrett, DDG-104. Stephen is a Fire Controlman, and shares a little video and some stills put together from the ship's recent Combat Systems Trials.