You Don’t Find Your Style, Your Style Finds You (And Reveals You!)

I am a believer in artists creating work that shows a bit about them, that reveals who they are. What we photograph and show says to others, "Look at this, this is what I made, what I think is valuable, what I want you to associate with me." We can make any number of kinds...

Story Content vs. Bokeh + Corner Sharpness

Since the first photograph in 1839, photographers have been asking the question, "What should I photograph?" The best answer is, "What can you photograph?" Meaning, what do you have access to? The first photograph--a street scene at the Boulevard du Temple in Paris in 1838 by Louis Daguerre. Can you photograph the Hollywood premiere from...

A Bit About Duane Michals

Do you have a favorite photograph? This Is My Proof is one of mine. I like Duane Michals and how he puts text on his photographs to tell stories. This photograph is another one of his narratives using words on a photograph. (NSFW) What do you think of writing on photographs? I, myself, like it...

A Couple 6×6 Portraits and Some Documentary Photographs

It's always a treat to take out the Rolleiflex. You never know who'll you'll meet with it, and you always get to interact with people who are enamored by the camera and thus willing to pose for you. I'd written in the past about how the camera you're using will dictate the photos that you'll...

Photographing Life’s Little Moments

I've always been a fan of the little moments in life. When I'm at a wedding, I often think about how the bride and groom will wake up on a regular Saturday morning together, and how a lifetime of those Saturday mornings cumulatively say more about them than their wedding day with all its pomp,...

Creativity Does Not Come in Presets!

I can trust the photographs that film photographers make from negatives, specifically real photographs--those prints that are developed in chemical trays and have no connection to the digital world. Because in the digital realm, there is no guarantee of genuineness, authorship. Of authenticity. We are in a world full of advertisements for cookie-cutter photographic looks,...

Making Great Photos in Unlikely Places

As photographers, we can't wait for the perfect light to make photographs. We have to create where we are. I carry a camera wherever I go, and it's on and ready to shoot at a moment's notice. Recently, I was at a kickoff party of a new event center inside the Dickens Opera House, a...

A Bit About Berenice Abbott

Women have been at the forefront of photography since its invention. From Julie Cameron to Alice Austen, Imogen Cunningham, Hansel Mieth, and Frances Benjamin Johnston. But I am impressed by the work of Berenice Abbott. She was born in Ohio and moved to New York City which many people said you can't do. But she...

You Don’t Want a Mint Condition Leica

Or a Leica 35mm Summilux lens in like-new condition. Or a Nikon F6 NOS (new old stock) brand new just out of the box. Or any number of amazing cameras--Contaxes, Hasselblads, Mamiyas--that are in their most pristine condition. I can't think of a worse way to make photographs than to get a camera that's so...

“I’m in the Picture Business.”

People ask why I shoot film, when digital is so much easier. First of all, who said the easiest art is the best art? Then we wouldn't have sculpture (too difficult), oil paintings (too hard to clean the brushes), or other myriad art forms. But the main reason is I am a photographer who makes...