A Whole Lot of Pictures of A Whole Lot of People Doing A Whole Lot of Nothing

I was at an antique auction yesterday and there was a whole box of photo albums with snapshots all from one family from the 1920s to 1950s. I was, of course, interested in the lot, and hoped it wouldn't go for too high of a price. It didn't. It closed at $25, but without my...

The More People Turn to Exclusively Using Their Phone for Cameras…

...the less people there are who look like real photographers out in the field. Hence, the more the real photographers stand out. (Yes, I am calling phone photographers not real photographers--to me they're not.) Not to take anything away from phone photographers--they're documenting their world for a moment's look. They're notetaking their life. That's not...

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...

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...

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...

A Treasure Chest of Colorado 4×5 Glass and Film Negatives

Perusing the local flea market, I passed by hundreds of cordless drills and saws, Carhartt jackets, and a plethora of household items as I scoured the rows of offerings for anything photographic. On one table at the back of the third row, I saw a bin filled with hundreds of 4x5 glass and film negatives....

The Love for Heavy Metal: Would You Use a $5 Nikon F2?

I stopped by a thrift store in Loveland Colorado and they had a Nikon F2A with a motor drive for a fiver. Hmm, yeah, I'll take that. They said it's only for display as it doesn't work. (Yeah, right!) Well, let's see. It had no lens. (No problem, I have several.) And no shutter collar....

Your Photography, Your Story

I think about what I make for street photographs, street portraits, and documentary photographs and how altogether they add up to my story. They tell you how I see, what I see, and the way I see it. It's a connection for you to my world, places I've been, and people I've met and seen....

“Thanks For Choosing Us!”: Making Someone’s Day with a Portrait

Tim Gilbert I enjoy using a camera to meet people as I have written about numerous times. Yesterday was no different. A photographer friend of mine, Tim Gilbert, who is the mastermind behind Stearman Press and the SP-445 developing tank in which you can develop four sheets of 4x5 film, handed me a prototype of...