Mr. Cowboy and the Wonder of Old Snapshots

It's a wonder to me that anyone would discard or sell their family photographs, but it happens time and again. I was at a local estate sale yesterday and saw a tackle box full of slide film from the 1970s in boxes and couldn't help but want to have them for my snapshot collection. You...

Why Gear Does and Doesn’t Matter

What is the need for the biggest and best most expensive gear? I was out and about this weekend and saw protesters for the Black Lives Matter movement in my town and made photographs in both digital format with a Nikon D610 and 35mm and 120 film in a Leica M3 and a Rolleiflex 2.8C....

A Crossroads in the History of Photography

We are at a crossroads, now more than ever.  At first it was just digital technology as a new way to capture light and make a picture. We all embraced it because it was no cost, no worry, shoot shoot shoot and delete later, or don't. (Because let's face it, we don't delete, we just...

The Magic is Missing in Phone-Snappy World

True story happened yesterday. I met a young couple, mid-20s, and we were talking about film photography. I told them how they could get one roll of black and white film from Mike's Camera and shoot one photo a month in an old Minolta SLR they had, and after three years they'd have a wonderful...

I Miss Straight Verticals

The photographers of days gone past, they used view cameras, those lovely wood 4x5 and 8x10 cameras, which gave them the ability to keep their verticals straight.  Not tilted.  Not leaning. Basically, if the film plane is parallel to the building, the vertical will stand straight.  But if you tilt the film up, like when...

Finding Beauty in the Frame and Showing Up to See It

I have a difficult time making photographs sometimes. It's because I know what I want a photograph to do, how I want it to look composition-ally, or story-wise, or just the right light. And when those don't come together in some combination, I don't fire the shutter. It just sits, idle, waiting. I'm reading a...

Out the Car Window Series – Shooting on the Go

I have this thing of shooting photographs out my car window.  Moments that unfold in front of me. I like the energy of these photos.  Some have people really engaging in their surroundings.  Like this guy in downtown Boulder. Others have a stillness.  Like these people waiting or standing--a woman in Denver, people on a...

Street Photography Awards Are Only For Weirdo Photographs

I've noticed what wins street photography contests: Weirdo photos. Oddball pictures. Have you seen this? The photos at the right are the 2018 winners in StreetFoto. To my eye, none of them look like the classics by Garry Winogrand or Henri Cartier-Bresson, who I'm betting are masters that these street photographers look up to. The...

Why Photo Contest Rejections Aren’t Necessarily a Bad Thing

How could that possibly be a good thing, having your work rejected, you ask.  Well, let me tell you about myself.  I've both won awards as a photojournalist and haven't won awards as a photographer. Why is that?  Timing.  Placement.  What the curators want. I have my brand of photography--documentary photography, photojournalistic storytelling, street life...

Why I Love Being a Photographer Living in Colorado

I live in Colorado, and while nature is pretty and mountains are beautiful, I'm not drawn to photographing trees, lakes and landscapes. I like people.  It's because I've been a photojournalist my whole life, and for me it's much more exciting to photograph a spirited interaction between a couple, a kiss, a funny face, a...