I try to avoid using flash

...yet there isn't a choice. So what's going on here then?

This is flash memory, in its bare form ...about 15 years of evolution within the industry in this champagne Martini (corrected by 'tutting' colleagues) glass. The very thing that has driven the digital photography industry and is evolving with it. Of course it also goes into pretty much every thing electronics, which seem to have an insatiable appetite for flash memory. The memory card in your camera or phone has this stuff inside, whether or not you can't pull it out. Most of these will have been pushed to their breaking point for 1000s of hours in our labs as a part of the development process. Now they make a fine prop on my shelf.

Coming back to the blip, I've been reading up on theory and wanted to put it into practice. This involved playing with lighting and apertures and trying to appreciate the balance between depth of field and sharpness as it relates to my lens. I've been studying exifs and asking questions, which hopefully will lead to better photographs in future.

For now please pardon the artistic license I've assumed in subjecting you to this random blip. And I meant, I avoid flash photography, but perhaps that's stating the obvious