I always carry a Nikon DSLR and a 28mm f1.8 lens with me in case I come across a story for my Roy Stryker photo project. And I have a few lenses in in my car, the most useful is a 70-300mm f4-5.6 Nikkor Zoom that is slow, cheap ($75) and small, yet sharp as... Continue Reading →
Everything Doesn’t Work Out As Planned (and That’s a Good Thing)
I was working on a photo prompt "pairs" for The Photo Game, and I was going for the obvious, photographing a pair of pears on my light table. Alright, that's fair, meets the requirements. It's a fine enough photo. Something else, what else can I do--I know, I'll try them on the window sill. Then... Continue Reading →
Gauche in the Living Room? No Way! (Changing The World, One Photograph at a Time)
It's a quite different world nowadays the way we use photography from when I was growing up. When I was a kid, there were regular visits to the portrait studio or a school photographer would setup in our auditorium to make our class photos. There was something to it--the lights, the camera, the tripod, the... Continue Reading →
Polaroid Goodness & The Joy of Meeting “Unknowners” with a Camera
This is Bill and Bob. They're a couple of fishermen I saw yesterday walking down a path to the pond at Rogers Grove in my town, one carrying a small green net. I told them that once I saw that net, I knew I had to photograph them. "That net says 'hope'," I joked with... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
I Don’t Plan to Make Photographs
You really never know when your friend is going to resemble an umbrella pole/post, and the camera has to be with you, on and ready to shoot. This is why I take a camera with me everywhere. I don't intend to shoot anything when I take my camera. I just notice life's little moments and... Continue Reading →
Golden Age of Analog Photography
We are really living in it, a new golden age of analog photography. Sometimes we can't see something while we're in it. You can either be in the mountains, or off the mountains looking at them--they're impossible to see while you're in them. But there couldn't be a better time to be an analog photographer.... Continue Reading →
The Kind of Photographer, Artisan or Technician
Is there a difference between the photographer who uses film versus the one who uses digital cameras? And I always preface this question with the understanding that there is no right and wrong way with art--neither digital nor film is inherently better than the other, just different ways of working. I was thinking about the... Continue Reading →
“But People Are So Busy…”
I don't believe that. What are we so busy doing? People say that everyone is in such a hurry today, they have kids that have to get dropped off to after-school activities or sports. But wait, they've always done that. Are kids now on six or eight teams instead of the one or two they... Continue Reading →
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.... Continue Reading →