A Couple 6×6 Portraits and Some Documentary Photographs

It's always a treat to take out the Rolleiflex. You never know who'll you'll meet with it, and you always get to interact with people who are enamored by the camera and thus willing to pose for you. I'd written in the past about how the camera you're using will dictate the photos that you'll...

A Bit About Berenice Abbott

Women have been at the forefront of photography since its invention. From Julie Cameron to Alice Austen, Imogen Cunningham, Hansel Mieth, and Frances Benjamin Johnston. But I am impressed by the work of Berenice Abbott. She was born in Ohio and moved to New York City which many people said you can't do. But she...

If New Camera Equals Inspiration Then Go Get It

Whatever it takes. Call it GAS (gear acquisition syndrome), JWSN (just wanting something new) or NWCIB (now what can I buy), but if a new camera is what it takes to inspire us to create, then get the new camera. The end result is all that matters. The photographs. They don't care what they were...

Here Comes the Flood, Save the Photos (What Photos?)

Last week, Hurricane Ida tore through New York and New Jersey and one of the towns that was hard hit was one I used to live in, Lambertville, New Jersey. It's a sweet river town situated beside the Delaware River just north of the Capitol, Trenton, and across from its more famous neighbor, New Hope,...

Saving Faces (Or Not) in the Modern World

It's difficult to imagine, but for most of the time humans have walked the earth--117 billion humans since the dawn of time; there are 7 billion on the earth presently--there was no way to save the face of a loved one. People lived and died without ever having a way to preserve the faces of...

“We Want a Portrait, Not a Snapshot”

Some days are better than others as a professional photographer. Like today, for instance. A prospective client called looking for a portrait of her family members and mentioned her husband was a graduate of a prestigious art and photography school some years ago, and he's since retired his cameras, but she was looking for a...

Street Portraits on a Nothing-Happening Street Photo Day

What is is about street portraits? They can be a great way to create photos in public when we're not finding street documentary moments that are catching our eye. Especially if you see some interesting characters and faces. I define a portrait as one where the subject is aware of the camera and is connecting...

Making a Photographic Difference

Legacies. Making a mark on the world. The reason for being here. The point. What's yours? Mine's obvious to me. Like Eugene Atget's goal of documenting old Paris before it changed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, which he knew was his life's goal, even if no one else knew about it while he...

“Let’s Watch Your Fireworks Video on Your Phone…”

...said no one ever. Same with the photos on your phone that you want to show someone, but first you have to scroll endlessly because you have no idea where it is and you just can't find it: "I know it's here somewhere, but maybe not back this far, or maybe just a bit more,...

Photography is Wonderful

There is one thing I am sure about, that photography is special, magical, wonderful. It allows us to keep loved ones with us forever. It stops time. It's a time travel machine. It's something that for most of humankind, didn't exist. (It's only 182 years old, this photographic medium. Before 1839, no one had ever...