I could be happy photographing only garden subjects and grandchildren. However, I also enjoy entering a very casual weekly online photo “mini-challenge” in the Canon Talk Forum of the website DPReview ( http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1010 ) where flowers and adorable babies are, if not taboo, certainly not among the most exalted topics. The previous week’s winner selects the new theme (e.g., Funny Faces, After Dark, Singin’ the Blues, or Windows) and chooses a new champ from among the submitted images. Although I often feel I already have one or more suitable images to post, and other times I’ve felt inspired to try something new, some of the topics have posed more than a “mini”-challenge for me--this week’s topic of City Life being a prime example. I have shot my share of pleasing architectural compositions, and I’m always on the lookout for amusing signs, but I am wary of people’s reactions when I photograph them. At the restaurant where we ate last night, two people at a table outside on the sidewalk turned around menacingly when they saw my camera (I was at least 40 feet away!) as though I were a private detective spying on their rendezvous. Come to think of it, in that case they probably wouldn’t have faced the camera, but you get the idea. As a result, I find myself shooting from a distance, with all the annoying distractions that can then loom up between the camera and the subject. Or I resort to the use of the swivel-out LCD viewer on my Canon G6 to try to fool people into thinking that the camera is not pointed at them. Or I include only people facing away from the camera or otherwise oblivious to my presence. I have come to value the inclusion of people in my images for the sense of story they impart, since most of my best photographs are really only tourist-y postcards. However, I still have a long way to travel before I come close to meeting this particular challenge.