1/60 at f2.8 and Be There with Film for $8

I was with some friends last weekend for dinner who afterward were going to a book reading and launch party by a relative of theirs (and an acquaintence of mine) and they invited me along. I was going to bring along a digital camera, but then figured they would be shooting phone photos so I...

The Love for Heavy Metal: Would You Use a $5 Nikon F2?

I stopped by a thrift store in Loveland Colorado and they had a Nikon F2A with a motor drive for a fiver. Hmm, yeah, I'll take that. They said it's only for display as it doesn't work. (Yeah, right!) Well, let's see. It had no lens. (No problem, I have several.) And no shutter collar....

The Photo Walk Went Mostly Digital

Last week's post about our Denver photo walk was a treat to write and bring you along to where we went, what we saw. I love how photography and words--storytelling--allowed me to bring you the stories of the day. Take you along, in a sense. But though I had film cameras with me, I know...

I Can’t Help But Want to Shoot a Ten Dollar Nikon

It was the end of an estate sale. No one had bought it for $20. It had a couple, maybe three rusty screws on the bottom. Batteries were dead, so of course, it didn't power on. No one knew if it worked. I offered $10, they said sure. Glad to sell it. Move it along....

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. |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| ||||||||||...

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...

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....

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...

Cameras Can Inspire Our Work

I recently picked up a Nikon S4 rangefinder with a Nikkor 50mm f1.4 lens. It was made in 1959, I've shown it here before and it's been the one I've been using lately and it inspires me. I like looking through it, working with it. Loaded with Ilford HP5, it's ready in any kind of...

Photographs Last: There’s No Substitute for Film

A young woman admired my Nikon S4 Rangefinder film camera, which prompted me to ask to make her portrait. For me, there's nothing like shooting a film camera as it's the only kind that produces a negative that I can print in my darkroom and gift a photograph to the subject of the photo. A...