I have a Canon 450 xsi digital. I have a couple of nice lenses that I purchased, but really only learned how to use my equipment fairly well when I went on a photography workshop at Lake Como, Italy this summer.

The workshop was sponsored by Ham Smith's daughter, Holly Smith Pedlosky. Holly is an excellent photographer - you can see her work at hollypedlosky.com - and a very good teacher.

We worked hard every day and played every evening. The food was great, the weather was terrible - very hot and atypical so no a/c no fans. Still the class had a wonderful time and developed a great bond.

I particularly like to photograph flowers with a macro. I have a number of those shots posted on my gardening webzine at atlantagardenconnection.com. At the time that I took them I thought they were great, but now I can see that they need more focus.

What's your equipment and topic of choice?