Golden Age of Analog Photography

We are really living in it, a new golden age of analog photography. Sometimes we can't see something while we're in it. You can either be in the mountains, or off the mountains looking at them--they're impossible to see while you're in them. But there couldn't be a better time to be an analog photographer....

I Love Street Photography, I Hate Street Photography Now

I do. I love street photography. I make street photographs and portraits all the time. But I hate street photography now, or at least what it's become. It feels like it's stuck at the moment. Seriously, street photography today, what I see online, wears me out. It's tiring. If I see one more figure in...

How Has Instant Results Affected Creativity?

We all wear two hats, one as a creative and one as a marketer. In days of old, we would create a body of work, photographers would be able to work on a project and keep the creative hat on until completion. They wouldn't be stepping back and forth between worlds because they couldn't get...

Born in the 1960s–The Best Years for Growing Up and Being a Photographer

I was born in 1964. That means the Nikon F2 was out when I was 10, the FM2 when I was 20 and I grew up in the era of Kodachrome film, Fuji Velvia, Ilford HP5 and Kodak Tri-x black and white films, and plenty of wonderful photographers working in those days like Garry Winogrand,...

The Problem With Likes (Please Don’t Like This Unless You Read It!)

I have a problem with some LIKES. The ones that remove the "K" and are essentially LIES. Not malicious lies, but ones that don't reflect someone truly enjoying and valuing our work. See, where you get the LIKE matters. If I get a LIKE on this blog post, chances are this post was read. (And...

Save Those Negatives

I find it unbelievable that I have to write this, but the trend in film developing labs, not professional ones, but drugstore-types, is to return digital files and not return the negatives for film that they develop. It would be like Bob Dylan (or more likely his record company) saving one cassette tape of Highway...

Ah, The Difference a Print Makes

The photographic print defines today's photographer. That's it right there. Doesn't matter if you originate on film or a digital sensor, it's the print that defines the photographer. What have you made lately? Show me your work, let's see your photographs? I'd go so far as to say that those making photographic prints are the...

To Be The Best Photographer in The World

What's your goal? How far do you want to take this thing, photography? What's the limit as you perceive it as applying to you and your work? For me, it's not a hobby but my life's work. There's no limit as I see it--it's simple, my goal is to be the best photographer in the...

The Wise Photo Project Goes Worldwide to Photograph Sweet Wonderful Old Faces

It really started kind of small in Kenneth Wajda’s Boulder Colorado commercial portrait studio back in 2015. He advertised an open studio on Mondays in the local events listings for seniors age 70 and over to come in and get a formal portrait made at no cost, figuring that was his slowest day at the...

Time Traveling With a Leica or Rolleiflex

Ohmigod, is that a Saturn?  And look, remember when you had to pedal your bike! [This is a repost of the most popular 6x6Portraits blog post ever. We're time traveling today back to 2016.] The year is 2066. We're teleporting to different parts of the earth, holding meetings on virtual beaches while sitting at home,...