Making a Series of Film Portraits on Your Terms

Made on black and white 4x5 film, this is the lead photograph from the shoot. I have a friend Clark whose Father collects classic cars and used to work for Kodak. I had never met his Dad, but told Clark that he sounds like someone I need to photograph. And so I did. I brought...

I Went to Disney World. No Photographers. No Cameras In Sight.

That thing at the top of this post, when printed on paper, used to be a cherished snapshot. A photographic memory. Not anymore. Now, it no longer exists. What's the first thing you think to pack when you go on a vacation to somewhere special? A camera of course. (Or if you're me, several!) Sure,...

My Satisfaction = Photographing Folks Where I Find Them

A photographer friend recently sent me a video link to a talk by a photographer named Adrian discussing photography and his expectation to fail, concluding disappointment was just a part of the process. In the notes of the video titled, The Curse of the Photographer, he wrote, "Photographers might be destined to permanently feel dissatisfied....

Grandma’s Gone With No Portraits To Remember Her By, Just Like in 1890.

I was talking to a woman at a yard sale last weekend and she said the reason she had so many photo frames for sale for 25-50 cents each, is because none of her children or grandchildren want the family photographs—she's moving to a smaller house and thought they'd want to have them. Wrong! She...

Listen To Me, I Know Best (And See You Better Than You See Yourself!)

I showed some wonderful film photographs to a friend and they didn't like them. They said so. Which makes me say, "Hmmm, I know how to edit your photos better than you know how to see yourself, and I assure these are strong photographs that feature you looking your best." When I get my hair...

“Just Let Me Shoot the End of this Roll”

You know when you're ready to develop film, but you still have a handful of frames left and you hate to waste them? After all, film is pricey. What do you do? You call your spouse or other family member or a friend (perhaps a furry one) to make a few quick photos. Or you...

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...

What’s So Good About Art? To Create. To Make What Wasn’t There Before.

It's Saturday night and I'm watching people dance to a band at Bootstrap Brewing, the pub where I write my blog posts. I love writing here with a cold Lush Puppy IPA. Tonight, it's so much fun to see folks enjoying themselves dancing up a storm. I even photographed them and may use them in...

A 4×6 Brag Book – It’s a Thing!

My partner MaryLee went to Cincinnati for her niece's wedding and took along a small Olympus XA2 35mm film camera loaded with a single roll of Ilford HP5+ Black and White Film. Good setup if you have decent light--the camera sports a 35mm f3.5 lens. She photographed some of the behind-the-scenes that she had access...

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...