A Time for Documentary, A Time for Conceptual

I talk about making photos and my approach, and sometimes I forget that there's another whole way to make photographs. Not documentary. Not people that you meet in the street and ask for their portrait. Not street photography. A photographer friend recently commented that she is looking for more photo subjects, new ideas of what...

The Difference Between Going Out to Make Photos and Simply Going Out to Live (and Finding Photos)!

There is one way to make photos that involves taking the camera down off the shelf, dusting off its (n)everyready case, peeling that leather wrap off and setting it aside, removing the lens cap, putting the camera in hand and heading out to make photographs at the birthday party, holiday celebration, or ___________ (your event...

Every Picture Tells a Story, Don’t It? (Then Three Tell It Better!)

Perhaps. Sometimes photographs in series tell a better story than a single photo. But not always. Here are two series of kids playing that I think work best as a photo story with more than one photograph, because it shows the moment unfolding--a pair of girls playing jump rope with a branch instead of a...

The Camera In Hand Makes the Photograph

Which camera inspires you to make what type of photograph? There are times when I carry a small Leica IIIg with a tiny 50mm f3.5 or Leica II with its 35mm f3.5 collapsible lens in my front jeans pocket because they make me feel good having a small candid camera always at the ready, and...

Street Photography is a Tap On The Shoulder: “Hey, Look Over Here.”

Happy Street Photography Day, which is celebrated on Henri Cartier-Bresson’s birthday, August 22nd, which is today. Cheers, Henri! So, let’s talk about street photography and creating good street photos—documentary photos of people living their lives, photographed in public, candid pictures of interesting moments of life for the most part. Interesting is the key word here....

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...

No Ads, No Sponsors (I’m Just Not Wooing Advertisers)

I just paid WordPress to upgrade my site to take off advertisements as I realized they were showing up inside the body of my posts, and they were distracting and annoying to me. And if I didn't like them, you, my readers, shouldn't have to put up with them. So, welcome to 6x6 Portraits ad-free!...

Making Art Requires Showing Up for Life (and Coffee)

I've said it before: The muse exists but she has to find you working. But that doesn't mean you have to know you're working. I wasn't going out to make photographs, I was walking to get coffee and parked a block up the street because that's where I found a parking space, and I wasn't...

What Made Photography Valuable?

Helen Levitt and Walter Rosenblum made street photographs in New York in the 1930s through the 1950s. Vivian Maier made street photographs in the 1950s through the 1970s. What made them relevant, what made their work valuable? It took a special person, a real photographic artist to go out in public and shoot film photographs...

A Photographic Revolution In the Air

I'm reading a biography of the legendary photographer, Alfred Stieglitz by Dorothy Norman. I'm finding it a fascinating read, how he challenged rules. When he was young and played sports, he often wanted to change the rules of the game. In his photography and his life, he wanted to not "hit the target, but hit...