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...

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...

“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...

Vernacular Photography (aka Snapshots): Time Slices of a Different Era

There's just something about a snapshot from yesteryear, with its ubiquitous white border, its black and white tone (and sometimes color) in sizes rather on the small size. Many of these photographs were 3x4" or smaller. Below is a gallery of photos selected from a case full of pictures purchased at a flea market that...

Don’t Be Good (There are Lots of Good), Be Remarkable, Be Unforgettable

I heard an interesting interview with the celebrity photographer, Albert Watson, and he made a couple of points that resonated with me. You can listen to the whole interview on The Candid Frame's podcast. When he had other photographers show him work, some his own assistants, the photos would often be proficient but forgettable. He...

A Time for Documentary, A Time for Conceptual

I talk about making photos and my approach, and sometimes I forget that there's another whole way to make photographs. Not documentary. Not people that you meet in the street and ask for their portrait. Not street photography. A photographer friend recently commented that she is looking for more photo subjects, new ideas of what...

Here Comes the Flood, Save the Photos (What Photos?)

Last week, Hurricane Ida tore through New York and New Jersey and one of the towns that was hard hit was one I used to live in, Lambertville, New Jersey. It's a sweet river town situated beside the Delaware River just north of the Capitol, Trenton, and across from its more famous neighbor, New Hope,...

Photography Doesn’t Work Anymore As A Way To Relive Moments (In the Short Term)

I have a dilemma. I went to friends' family gathering celebrating their grandson turning one. The big "one"! They are a beautiful family and I looked forward to going and of course brought a camera. That's always the big decision: Do I take a film camera, a Leica M5 with a 50mm f1.4 Summilux or...

Every Picture Tells a Story, Don’t It? (Then Three Tell It Better!)

Perhaps. Sometimes photographs in series tell a better story than a single photo. But not always. Here are two series of kids playing that I think work best as a photo story with more than one photograph, because it shows the moment unfolding--a pair of girls playing jump rope with a branch instead of a...