The More People Turn to Exclusively Using Their Phone for Cameras…

...the less people there are who look like real photographers out in the field. Hence, the more the real photographers stand out. (Yes, I am calling phone photographers not real photographers--to me they're not.) Not to take anything away from phone photographers--they're documenting their world for a moment's look. They're notetaking their life. That's not...

A 2023 Prediction: The Further AI Goes…

...the more value there will be for traditional photographers, especially those using film and creating photographs as a craft. Just like there's a movement toward film photography among young people, those same young people are the ones advertisers want to reach and those young consumers don't want fake images, doctored pictures, or AI-generated unreality. They...

Are You Happy with your Work?

The reason to make photographs is simple: For yourself. In whatever way that manifests itself. For me it's making documentary photographs and telling people stories. Putting together gallery shows of my work. The goal of a series of photographic monographs. Some people are technology fans and they like to buy and test out cameras and...

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....

That Great Introducer: The Camera

I was in New York recently, a city that's one of my favorite places on earth, and went down to Greenwich Village and Washington Square Park. There's always a crowd there, plenty of energy. The people-watching is great fun and of course, it makes for excellent opportunities for photographs and is a great place to...

Is Social Media Detrimental to New Photographers?

Andy Adams of FlakPhoto asked recently which social media would photographers choose as an alternative, and which qualities they were looking for in a different platform. And I asked myself a very simple question: "Why would anyone join any in the first place?" It seems like it can only be for one reason—they aren't making...

Beauty and the Beast

One of these is a photographic tool used to create images with light, to make framed and matted photographic art to hang on walls and savor memories. The other is a computer with a lens that makes files. One gives you endless possibilities for creating photographic prints. The other has a desktop computer job waiting...

Sisters Portraits: 8×10, Rolleiflex and the In-Betweens

I had a portrait shoot this week with a pair of sisters, ages 15 and 16. I told them to wear fancy formal dresses and meet me at the lake in my town. Their mom drove them over and the two girls had a look of embarrassment and annoyance at being dressed like that when...

Learn Film Photography: I’ll Bring You a Camera!

So, there has been a lot of interest this summer from folks taking lessons to learn film photography. You know those old SLRs (single lens reflex) cameras like the Canon AE-1 or Pentax K1000 your parents had or maybe you had. I've had students study with me one-on-one with 35mm, 120 and even a 4x5...

Watching and Documenting the Lives of Others AKA Joining the Circus

I've been fortunate to be able to be a working photographer all my life. From the moment I left college, I immediately got work as a photojournalist, then a staff photographer position at a large daily newspaper, and then have worked as a freelance commercial, advertising, and editorial photographer, totaling 35 years in photography. During...