Learning Photography? Ditch the 18-55mm Kit Lens

I've recently taken on teaching middle school and high school students digital photography for a local private school. They each have given to them a Canon T5 Rebel and an 18-55mm kit lens to use. Here's my take: That 18-55mm lens is a terrible one to learn photography with. It has limited uses and is...

Goals and Projects + Deadlines = Work

I know photographers who work without deadlines. Writers and artists, too. None of them make work consistently because nothing is due. It's just a wish: "I'd really like to create a great _____. I want to be the best ever at _____." Do you really? You know how the successful ones, those who are recognized...

The World Is Better Off Because You Are In It

I believe that we don't always know what others are going through, the struggles they face while they look at us with a smile. To that end, some people are looking to end their life and are considering suicide. If that's you, I have an offer for you: Let me introduce you to photography and...

In a World of Struggle, I Choose to Photograph Joie De Vivre

Alfred Eisenstaedt, a Life Magazine photographer you know--he made the famous photograph of the sailor kissing a nurse in New York's Times Square at the end of World War II--is a photographer who I am a big fan of, the reason being while others were photographing the struggles of war, he was photographing joy. He...

Birds of a Feather Need a Visionary

Many creatives go with the trends, following the others. True visionaries strike out on their own, making a stand for a quality that only they can deliver. THEY FLY ALONE! Be true to yourself. We have everyone else. We need you. Your vision. How you see the world! If you want to see my view...

It’s a New Year, 2023, My 36th as a Photographer!

I consider myself extremely fortunate for I get to say I've been a professional commercial photographer and photojournalist my whole career starting at age 23 as a staff photographer at the Trenton Times, New Jersey's capitol newspaper. I majored in college in communications and expected to go into television and interned at WPVI, the local...

A 2023 Prediction: The Further AI Goes…

...the more value there will be for traditional photographers, especially those using film and creating photographs as a craft. Just like there's a movement toward film photography among young people, those same young people are the ones advertisers want to reach and those young consumers don't want fake images, doctored pictures, or AI-generated unreality. They...

Are You Happy with your Work?

The reason to make photographs is simple: For yourself. In whatever way that manifests itself. For me it's making documentary photographs and telling people stories. Putting together gallery shows of my work. The goal of a series of photographic monographs. Some people are technology fans and they like to buy and test out cameras and...

The Value of the Documentary Photograph

As you know, I have a camera everywhere I go and Christmas Eve with friends was no exception. They always have a houseful of family and friends and you can count on there being a sing-along of holiday carols. I made the choice of a Pentax MX with a fast 28mm f2 lens knowing that...

Perhaps We Need To Be Like Springsteen and Take It Further

I watched the Bruce Springsteen performance piece, Springsteen on Broadway, on Netflix and I had a grin on my face the whole time it was playing. Because the words were so well chosen. The spoken words were poetry. I was in the presence of a masterful storyteller painting pictures with words in a way I...