Story Content vs. Bokeh + Corner Sharpness

Since the first photograph in 1839, photographers have been asking the question, "What should I photograph?" The best answer is, "What can you photograph?" Meaning, what do you have access to? The first photograph--a street scene at the Boulevard du Temple in Paris in 1838 by Louis Daguerre. Can you photograph the Hollywood premiere from...

You Don’t Want a Mint Condition Leica

Or a Leica 35mm Summilux lens in like-new condition. Or a Nikon F6 NOS (new old stock) brand new just out of the box. Or any number of amazing cameras--Contaxes, Hasselblads, Mamiyas--that are in their most pristine condition. I can't think of a worse way to make photographs than to get a camera that's so...

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...

I Don’t Plan to Make Photographs

You really never know when your friend is going to resemble an umbrella pole/post, and the camera has to be with you, on and ready to shoot. This is why I take a camera with me everywhere. I don't intend to shoot anything when I take my camera. I just notice life's little moments and...

Liking a “Twelver” Over a 36-Exposure Roll

I like rolls of 12. For photography, a dozen frames is a manageable number these days when I'm shooting film. Because I tend to have film loaded in multiple cameras. (As William Eggleston says, "I take the camera I feel like using on any given day.") Just today I processed a roll of 36-exposure Tri-X...

Kenneth Wajda’s Leica (Why it Matters to Me)

The other day I wrote about Ralph Gibson's Leica and why it matters to him, what shooting the Leica versus any other camera means to his way of working, and why once he started with the German brand, he never left. So, I was ruminating about my own workflow and how I use Leicas, but...

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...

Time Traveling With a Leica or Rolleiflex

Ohmigod, is that a Saturn?  And look, remember when you had to pedal your bike! [This is a repost of the most popular 6x6Portraits blog post ever. We're time traveling today back to 2016.] The year is 2066. We're teleporting to different parts of the earth, holding meetings on virtual beaches while sitting at home,...

Why Gear Does and Doesn’t Matter

What is the need for the biggest and best most expensive gear? I was out and about this weekend and saw protesters for the Black Lives Matter movement in my town and made photographs in both digital format with a Nikon D610 and 35mm and 120 film in a Leica M3 and a Rolleiflex 2.8C....

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,...