I may or may not have dropped some heavy telephoto glass on my mounts a time or two. Made my toes curl but all is still well with the cameras and contacts. I try to be ginger with it but it’s made to last.

I have a friend with a ton of degrees that says he’s just addicted to the formal education system. I say go for SNHU I actually live very close to their physical campus and hear that their online classes are top notch. If I were to recommend the best way to become proficient at photography it would be to join a club and shoot with people who are good at what they do. You see and feel the gear, I’ve let some younger photographers who perhaps can’t afford some nice lenses use some of mine that I’m not using for the day. I met a newer guy shooting the same football game as me and told him to come shoot with me sometime. I straightened out some photography mechanics he wasn’t performing correctly and the kid brought me into the world of photoshop and now I create and edit sports composite posters. The only thing you don’t get from shooting with pros is a pat on the ass and a piece of paper that says you did a thing. 100% SNHU though for the piece of paper.

Use aftershoot. You can set it to detect closed eyes, subject out of focus, and thresholds. I use it in spots photography because I shoot at 10fps and I have loads of photos to go through.

I like to travel light and if I need an off camera flash for daytime portraits I just bring a speed light and trigger and the mount to put it on a light stand. You can bounce it off a reflector too if you don’t have that. You can get a decent speed light for like $150 $200.