Working to Create a Portrait of F. Murray Abraham

I had been trying to get a portrait session scheduled with F. Murray Abraham when he came to Boulder for the film festival, but I couldn't get it set up. The festival couldn't accommodate me, the podcast host, The Hollywood Reporter, was and then wasn't communicative, and I was on my own to get a...

Street Photographers: The Quickest of Them All

Street photography is a style of documentary photography many photojournalists create when they're between assignments because they see little bits of life that others often miss. And they have to photograph those moments--there are stories unraveling in front of them, how can they not? Oh, and also get the exposure correct, and the composition, all...

Film Sprockets, Baby, from a Yashica 44

I picked up this Yashica 44, an obvious "homage" to the Baby Rolleiflex, at an estate sale last weekend for a Jackson. Got it home, quick mod, then popped in a roll of HP5 in to see what it could do, and took a walk in my downtown. Interesting effect if you like sprockets in...

The Gift of Meeting People, The Gift of Photography

Like I said a couple posts ago, the more you go out, the more people you meet. This time I went out to McIntosh Lake with a roll of Ilford HP5 in a Rolleiflex 3.5F to see who I'd find. I always start on the promenade--that's what I call the sidewalk that wraps around the...

No Control Over What Comes So Come What May

I was thinking about doing the work, what that means and looking back at the photographs I've done in the past and it's clear that I don't have any control over what I create. I work with creating photographs based on who I encounter and the situations that present themselves. I don't have the ability...

What Makes a Street Photo?

There are many street photographers nowadays. But what makes a street photo? It can't just be anyone walking along the street--I can see that out the window. To me, there has to be a story (or it gets the viewer to create one). If there's a story, it's a street photograph. If it has no...

Achieving Tone and Mood with Black & White Film

There's something that I find I achieve when I use film over digital and that is I get to create tones and moods, even if everything in the frame isn't perfect. Even if there are some elements that are blurred or soft. But that's not the film's fault, it's the photographer's. The truth is, film...

What’s So Good About Art? To Create. To Make What Wasn’t There Before.

It's Saturday night and I'm watching people dance to a band at Bootstrap Brewing, the pub where I write my blog posts. I love writing here with a cold Lush Puppy IPA. Tonight, it's so much fun to see folks enjoying themselves dancing up a storm. I even photographed them and may use them in...

Show Your Work

When I was a kid in school, in math class once you got the math problem solved the teacher would say, "Show your work." If you were going to do the work, show it, show how you got there. I use that same phrase with photographers. "Show your work." What are you making it for...

Collecting Family, Friends & People I Meet

Sometimes people see me carrying a film camera wherever I go, sometimes a Leica or Nikon rangefinder, sometimes a Rolleiflex twin lens reflex, and ask me what do I photograph. I explain it's not what, it's who. Who do I photograph? Well, the answer to their question is everyone. My family, sure. Friends, yep. People...