batsofburden

I really like mittens where the top flips down.

in the last 20 years or so

could this possibly coincide with the rise of the internet & internet forums?

I saw in another comment you are in NY. Aside from what others have already suggested, you could browse in the Taschen book store or the Kinokuniya book store. They both have tons of photo related stuff to look through. Also, try going to a magazine store, there's usually tons of photography themed magazines to look through. You could also just google something like photography galleries NYC & go check out random galleries. If you are in NYC, that is basically the epicenter of America to view photography, so you really have no need for social media to inspire you.

A lot of the stuff that was put on programs like Photoshop & Lightroom was to mimic stuff that was initially done in the darkroom.

That's fine if you're getting a random question every now & then. For someone who is well known with lots of followers on social media, they probably get many questions a day from random people. After a certain point, it's just impossible to answer every question. So people will do stuff like make a patreon, so they can answer questions & interact with the smaller number of people who sign up & pay.

While that's true, otoh there are so many lenses out there that esp new photographers feel overwhelmed by choices & don't know which direction to go, so having a starting point is a good thing, even if they will use it differently.

Just looked at your flickr, your photos are beautiful. I'm surprised you only sell a handful of prints, it really must be down to not promoting your stuff effectively. You should definitely add calendars to your shop, your pics would make an excellent calendar.

if they're encouraging you to apply, that makes it seem like they know about some competitions already, so try asking them.

If I was starting from scratch right now with photoshop, I think an in person community college or equivalent class would be best since you can ask lots of questions. I'd supplement that with youtube vids & just messing around with the program.

Holy crap, your shots are gorgeous! Most of the mushrooms in my area are just gross looking, but I try to get shots of the occasional nicer ones. I will definitely be inspired by your post!

Obsidian Oasis & Giants in the Darkness are prob my favorite of what you posted in the article. tbh I think the RAW version of the Woodlands Tale pic looks great already, even without any editing.

Matted is probably a better option than framed, or just an unmatted print.