My Photo Bag Contains No Tip Jar

As a working freelance photographer, you never know where your next gig will come from. One day you're photographing an architecture photograph or a political conference, the next day the president of the U.S. Yesterday, I was hired to photograph a 50th birthday party with Polynesian fire dancers that will get printed to remember the...

You Don’t Have to Smile

I often tell that to my portrait subjects--no need to smile. I'd prefer they were being themselves rather than putting on the smile mask that we all learned to wear as a kid via "Say Cheese". There's nothing wrong with a genuine smile, but asking for it, or having them turn it on, I find...

My Eternal Quest to Motivate Showing Up

I talk about this a lot. The idea that we can capture magic with our cameras, but we have to show up. Have to go out and find the photographs by getting out of our easy chair and out into the world, camera at the ready. I was lying awake a couple nights ago thinking...

Taking It To The Streets

On my YouTube channel, I recently talked about how I want to get as fast with the Leica as I am with my trusty Nikons, having used them for the past 35 years. You do something for 35 years, you get pretty good at it. So, this weekend, I went out with the Leica M9...

BTS (Behind The Scenes) Photos

Do you enjoy seeing the behind the scenes pictures from a photo shoot? I was out on a photowalk with my friend Paul, I was using my Rolleiflex and he was shooting his Nikon F 35mm camera. I had black and white Ilford HP5 loaded, and he was shooting Kodak color film. My goal was...

Part II – Rolleiflex Street Portraits in RiNo Area of Denver

The RiNo section of Denver is a hip new area full of brewpubs and eateries and lots of hipster types. That's not why I took my Rolleiflex there, but because the Denver Month of Photography is going on and I wanted to visit some of the galleries with current photography exhibits. After I parked the...

Portrait Magnet: A Dandy Rolleiflex T Dressed to the Nines in its Gray Leather Suit

I carried with me a Rolleiflex, held high in my hand with my elbow bent to keep it at chest level. No strap. No case. Just the Rolleiflex. It's a model T, a later model that is a bit of a dandy of a camera, dressed to the nines in its fancy gray leather suit....

Photographs + Time = Value!

The black and white photo below is a scene Ansel Adams photographed in 1947. A simple depiction of life at a street corner in Los Angeles. Why would he photograph that? At a time when people mostly used their cameras for special occasions and maybe big purchases--new house or car--those people probably couldn't fathom making...

Here’s To (the Gift of) Good Light

I received an email from the Chimera company the other day, a photo and video lighting company which is based here in Boulder, and they said they read had my story in the local paper about The Wise Photo Project (which you can join and I hope you do), and they wrote they would be...

I Was Once a Gunslinger

It was the Spring of 2004, I had just moved to Colorado in 2001 and was living in Canon City which sits just 12 miles from the famous Royal Gorge Bridge overlooking the Arkansas River turned into a theme park. At that time, there was a second attraction that sat next to the bridge--Buckskin Joe,...