[font color=\'#000000\']Hi Virgil,
That is not your friend. Forget him.
I do not know his Photography but from that answer I guess he has problems too in achieving good contrejour photographies.
Deriving from his answer I assume that he is also not a good teacher.
I think that teaching is an art of passing experience to somebody else which does not make you poorer. It makes you richer.
Being able to teach something is a gift which not everybody has.
If everybody would think like this, we still would be hanging on trees and howling around.
Take your your camera and go out shooting. Measure the light on your object, make some bracketing, but most important shoot, shoot and shoot. If from 10 rolls you get 1 frame you like it already was worth that Photography.
10 rolls at US 5,00 + development at 5,00 gives total US $ 100,00. Is not that Photography you like, worth that?[/font]