The cost of instant pictures

No such thing as a free lunch, no such thing as an unpaid-for leap forward in technology. A digital camera removes that delay between "Click." and "Ahhh." but the price is a niggling awareness of battery inadequacy. I mentioned this to a photographer working for the local newspaper and he pointed to a lumpish box attached in some way or other to his Nikon. Even this awkward device supplied juice for no more than a day.

Yes, I scrupulously avoid long periods of screen viewing and always carry re-charged batteries. And always curse when the camera goes dead a nano-second after the Low Battery warning. Any tips?

And yet, and yet... What would a blog or a website be without pictures? In colour too!* My experience of publishing dates back to when including a colour pic on an editorial page demanded an appointment with the company accountant. Nowadays there are blogs where colour photographs outstrip the text. Which reminds me of a different way of interpreting the cliché "A picture is worth...": a picture can exclude a thousand words. Frequently, a good thing too.

* Though not here. The only colour images on my outdated clipart disc are only too obviously optical cameras.