I Was Once a Gunslinger

It was the Spring of 2004, I had just moved to Colorado in 2001 and was living in Canon City which sits just 12 miles from the famous Royal Gorge Bridge overlooking the Arkansas River turned into a theme park. At that time, there was a second attraction that sat next to the bridge--Buckskin Joe,...

Honored to Have Made His Portrait for the Family

Sadly, Mr. Momano passed away this past Sunday. Graflex RB Super D, a 4x5 SLR I met him only once when I was out using my new-to-me (though made in the mid-1900s) Graflex RB Super D, a hand-holdable 4x5 SLR camera with a 190mm f5.6 Kodak Ektar lens. (This is the same camera that Dorothea...

Creating the Purposeful Photograph For Viewing

I set up the camera carefully. Take my time, find my view, then adjust it. Ever so slightly. A little more of this, a little less of that. What you leave out is just as important as what you leave in a photograph. You can see the whole process here. And it is a process....

So, You Want To Be a Famous Photographer, Do You? Do You?

I have a lot of respect for all kinds of photographers. Anyone who is making a living creating photographs is beating the odds--it's quite difficult to do these days. I was recently thinking about what kinds of photographers are the best known? Who can you name that is a famous photographers? I'd bet if asked,...

Shooting a Wedding on Film

"Wait, whaaaaaattt?" That doesn't sound like what you would expect nowadays with all the technology available, the Sony, the Canon, the Nikon. Have you seen the mirrorless? "Next you'll say you're not going to put them online." Yes, that would be my preference, to deliver you actual photographs printed and framed and in leather photo...

The Soul of Film Photography

What is soul and how does it apply to a photograph? Is it real or are film photographers just making it up? You know, when we talk about a film photograph having soul, unlike our digital photographs. I know for me, I see it. Clearly. I’m also connected to the photograph and the subject—they’re friends—so...

My 2020 Homage to Henri Cartier-Bresson

Here's my take on life on the bank of a lake, 2020 style, with a nod to Henri Cartier-Bresson and his famous riverside picnic. I actually was thinking about Bresson when I was making this photograph. Kenneth Wajda's Dimanche au bord du lac Macintosh [Sunday on the banks of Lake Macintosh], Colorado USA, 2020 Henri...

When the Audience Changes and We Have to Show Proof

A snapshot used to be a simple thing. We used a camera to save a moment from our lives to tuck it away under the bed in a shoebox or in a photo album, so that we could travel back in time at a future date and relive it. We even did it shortly after...

The Tech Beat Generation

I coined the “Tech Beat Generation” after searching for a name for the kind of person I am—interested in using tech to create work like photographs, stories and recordings, both audio and video, but tired of being constantly in front of a screen and having a device in my pocket that won’t stop vying for...

Can You Help Support the Programs and Projects?

If you like the work I do on my YouTube Channel, my Daily Photography Blog Podcast, my 6x6Portraits Photography Blog my RoyStryker Documentary Photo Project and/or my Gifted Art Film Portrait Project and would like to help out with a contribution to support me, become a patron or simply buy me a coffee, please use...