Photographing The Beatles

Linda McCartney looked pretty stealth working in those Beatles Get Back sessions that were shown on Apple TV last year, wielding her Nikon probably loaded with Kodak Tri-X film. The beauty of black and white for documentary photographs--that's something that only can be done with a camera using film. Sure, today you could shoot on...

Your Photography, Your Story

I think about what I make for street photographs, street portraits, and documentary photographs and how altogether they add up to my story. They tell you how I see, what I see, and the way I see it. It's a connection for you to my world, places I've been, and people I've met and seen....

Sometimes You Improvise

I was out in New Jersey photographing a Halloween parade when I noticed my Leica lens cap was missing. I thought I was holding it pressed against the lens with the palm of my hand but obviously not. Maybe it fell off in the bag or in the rental car. No dice. What to do?...

A $2K Leica M2 or a $30 Nikon N80

The difference in price is perhaps $1970 (possibly much more!) That amount will buy 328 rolls of Ilford HP5 film. That's 11,808 exposures, frames of film or pictures. Each line represents one roll of film, picture your refrigerator full of film. |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| ||||||||||...

What To Do With Old Cameras and Darkroom Gear?

I’m a professional photographer in Colorado and I often get asked where to take old cameras and darkroom equipment to get rid of them. Many people used to build darkrooms at home for printing their photographs. In the age of film photography, making negatives and printing photographs was king. But with digital and now phone...

Building a Photographer Community: an Artists Salon, a Virtual 1920s Paris Cafe, the Modern-Day Algonquin Round Table for Photographers

I really enjoy writing about photography. I think as photographers, we have a lot to share and we should offer each other everything we know. There are no trade secrets, nothing one photographer knows that can't be told. I often say, "Share everything." We are not in direct competition but colleagues, all working together to...

Saturday Photography & Street Portrait Workshops in Colorado in 2022

From time to time, I have photographers asking about scheduling street photography workshops, to make both candid street photographs as well as street portraits. I enjoy making both, and often shoot on both digital mediums as well as 35mm, medium format and large format film. 35mm film street portrait in Boulder. I also am one...

I Could Make Do With One Camera

It might make my photographic life simpler. But which one? If I had to choose one, and only one, it'd be the Rolleiflex 3.5F. It does one thing well. It has a sharp lens and a large negative. Ilford HP5+ or Portra 400 for film. It's not 4x5 large. But it's a good size, 6x6cm,...

A Photographer’s View of Self

I was recently gifted a book of self-portraits, all made with Leica cameras called Leica Myself. It's comprised of a single self-portrait from dozens of Leica photographers from all around the world. Which got me thinking about self-portraits and what it is we do when we make pictures. Really all photos we make are self-portraits....

One Leica M2, One Rolleiflex 3.5F, One 5×7 LF Camera — That’s All I Need!

And this Nikon FM2. And this Polaroid SX-70. That's all I need. I don't need anything else. Except this Wista DX 4x5. A Leica M2, a Rolleiflex 3.5F, a 5x7 LF Camera, the Nikon FM2 and the Polaroid SX-70 and Wista DX. That's all I need. I don't need anything else. Except this Nikon S4....