A mother’s love

When everything comes together, there’s no better feeling, as Michael Topham experienced in Croatia

How to take group shots of this new fixture in the school calendar, with Wendy Evans

Spotlight on readers’ excellent images and how they captured them

Spotlight on readers’ excellent images and how they captured them

For more interesting portraits, take a direct approach and ask your subject for a shot

We love moaning. The raw file won’t open, the firmware update wiped your settings. But spare a thought for the early adopters – when digital photography meant ghostly battery life, media cards that could barely hold a lunch break, colours that made everything look a bit ill. Peter Dench hears from top shooters about those early frustrations and breakthroughs, and adds his own…