Just Imagine What I Could Do With A…

Nikon F2! Such a machine!Leica M6! Ohmigod, fine German engineering!Olympus OM3! No batteries needed! Pentax MX! Look at that huge viewfinder!Nikon F! The legend, it went to war!Canon F-1! Built like a tank!Leica R6.2! All Leica goodness! Contax T3! Small wonder, Zeiss lens! Leica IIIf! The ultimate photographic jewel! You know what I can do...

Visiting Camera Shops Is (Should Be) Fun!

I make a point of going out of my way to visit camera shops when I travel to any city or town if there is one to stop in and say hello. First, I never know what I might find. And second, there's a joy in keeping these stores in business, poking around the used...

Gifted Art Film Portraits

[www.gofundme.com/f/buy-4x5-film-to-gift-art-portraits-of-people - You can help this project with a contribution to buy more film.] "I PHOTOGRAPH THEIR LIGHT, AND THERE'S NOTHING MORE SPECIAL!" As I hold up the old wooden camera by its thin leather handle, a camera that feels like a step out of time, a throwback to the early days of photography, their...

I Don’t Need Anything, But This Leica and This Notebook

Being both a photographer (documentary/street) and a writer (stand-up comedy/screenplays), I came to the realization that there is a correlation between the two. Because both require something of me. See, I carry a Leica and notebook everywhere I go. When my parents took photographs when I was growing up, they took them out at Christmas,...

Why the Instant Reflex to Capture Everything?

Everywhere I go, no matter what the event, the scene, the purpose, as soon as anything happens, it can be a marching band or a person opening a gift, everyone pulls out a phone and starts recording. Everyone. Why the instant reflex, the need to capture everything? Everything. Is it a natural reflex to get...

The Camera is the Greatest Way for Meeting People

I've met more people in my life as a result of my camera than any other way.  Of course, I talk to strangers all the time.  In fact, I don't think of them as strangers, but just people sharing life with me, and we are all a part of this something, whatever is is, together, ...

Camera Stores Used to be a Gathering Place for Photographers

I was talking with another photographer recently and he brought up that he misses hanging out at camera shops. I knew exactly what he meant. In the days of film, that was the place to meet, to see gear, talk and hang out with other photographers. There was still a little bit at risk when...

Nobody Cares What Camera You Use–the Camera Doesn’t Matter

Unless they can see the difference. Many people cannot see the difference. So, many people don't care what camera you use. The camera doesn't define you, or make your work.  You do! You define your work.  Here's proof.  This photographer shot 100 different cameras, and yet the work all looks similar.  Because it's not the...

Time Traveling With a Leica or Rolleiflex

The year is 2066. We're teleporting to different parts of the earth, holding meetings on virtual beaches while sitting at home, and having robots do all the chores. And we're using the latest camera technology, which means no camera at all--just look at something and it's captured. We're lamenting not having any photos from the...

Photograph Your Love, Share Your Passion

As a photographer, there's nothing else that matters, no one else who gets to decide what is important, other than that which is important to you.  Photography is a creative expression, and when we stop looking to create images that will please others, and actually create images that please ourselves, that reveal a little something...