Selfies are Easy. Real Life is Hard.

A friend recently showed me his cousin's family photo book, printed at Blurb or Shutterfly or one of those on-demand online photo printing services. It was nicely printed, and big, about 15x15", so it featured a lot of pictures. He asked if it was made up of photos from a pro, and I looked through...

For Good Photography: Access > Gear

It's a simple equation, but good access beats top camera equipment every time. Because we need to be somewhere to make the photo, and where that is matters first, much more so than what camera and lens is in our hands. An example will make this clearer. I was at a friends' house on Christmas...

We Have Choices Today. I Choose the Analog. The Tangible.

Like vinyl records versus digital CDs. Tube versus solid-state guitar amplifiers. Home-cooked meals versus microwaved. Hand-written (or typed) greeting cards versus emails. Film versus digital photography. Traditional photographic prints versus NFTs. I'm in the tangible art business!~Kenneth Wajda I make film portraits using 20th-century techniques and cameras and print in a traditional darkroom. For those...

My Favorite Photograph to Make…

There's an old line in photography that, "My favorite photograph to make is the next one." But it's so true. I sometimes think life would be easier if I were into watching TV and sports, but I'm not. I have an insatiable need to create. I do that with photographs and writing. I also write...

Telling Our Stories in Photo Series

That's essentially what this is. A group of adults trying to figure out how to stop a ceiling fan from always turning. Then finding the missing switch, hitting it and celebrating. Simple little photo story that tells the tale of a single moment in the life of a bunch of friends. What could be a...

The Best Compliment To a Photographer

A friend texted me the following comment after I sent her a gallery of photographs of her and her husband: These are all wonderful! We're so lucky that you are so talented and can create these amazing photos of us. Thank you. ♥ I texted back saying that I'm the lucky one--since she's also a...

The Prestige of an Annual Family Album Like a New Model Year Car

Most people don't bother to have family photographs made anymore. They figure they have a phone and they make pictures all the time, that's good enough. That's thinking small. Not big. When the automobile industry was young, a salesman suggested they make a new model every year. The sales manager asked. "Why would we do...

For Longevity: Share Your Photos Wide, In Many Places Among Many People

If you want your photography to last for generations to come, there's only one sure way. Well, two. Publish a book and get famous with your museum exhibits. Recommended but not easily achievable. Print your photographs and gift them to as many people as you can, in locations across the globe. More doable. The idea...

You Don’t Find Your Style, Your Style Finds You (And Reveals You!)

I am a believer in artists creating work that shows a bit about them, that reveals who they are. What we photograph and show says to others, "Look at this, this is what I made, what I think is valuable, what I want you to associate with me." We can make any number of kinds...

Defeat The Digital Dark Age With One Box

For the millions of people who will lose their business and family photos this year to failed hard drives, lost cell phones, unpaid cloud accounts and other types of digital demise, I feel for you. For the clients of mine, business and families, who've made prints of my work for their offices and homes, thank...