Why You Need a Lede

I was doing a photo shoot and layout for MaryLee Herrmann's theater performance of Schmaltzy and Princie: Diary or a Not-So-Great Daddy's Girl, and as I was building it, I remembered my newspaper days and thought, "I have to have a lede photo," one photo that's larger than the others that can anchor the whole...

“I Know Exactly What You Need.”

When the Boulder County Film Commission wanted photographs of its Creative Industry Night event this week, the film commissioner brought me in and when I arrived, he said, "Do we need to discuss what photos to get?" To which I said, "I know exactly what you want, what to do, what to photograph." He smiled...

1/60 at f2.8 and Be There with Film for $8

I was with some friends last weekend for dinner who afterward were going to a book reading and launch party by a relative of theirs (and an acquaintence of mine) and they invited me along. I was going to bring along a digital camera, but then figured they would be shooting phone photos so I...

Lovely to See Lovely Humans Loving Each Other

I always photograph little moments of joy when I can. Humans connected, people needing one another. I was at a conference once a few years ago where these kids were dancing, which I found quite wonderful, and made a point to photograph them. Completely enjoying each others' company, dancing up a storm. Friends loving each...

I Make Snapshots (They’re Really Good Well-Composed Snapshots!)

When I'm with friends I'm often photographing them doing what they're doing so I can share photo prints with them later once the moment is past. That's what a snapshot is, a look back on a special moment in time when we were together, sharing time. My friends all know whenever I join them, I'll...

Camera Exposure Settings I Use (Film & Digital)

I thought I'd share my exposure settings for how I make photos on black and white Ilford HP5+ negative film and also on a digital full-frame Nikon. Proven ways that work for me. Often without a light meter on a Leica. First off, you can certainly use (A) aperture priority if you have a camera...

Just Like Bill Owens’ Suburbia

I love the work in Suburbia by Bill Owens from 1972. Here he explains how he reached out to his community to get access to photograph them: "I put ads about the project in the local newspaper, asking people to let me photograph their kids, garage, dog, etc. Everyone was wide open; they would say,...

A Whole Lot of Pictures of A Whole Lot of People Doing A Whole Lot of Nothing

I was at an antique auction yesterday and there was a whole box of photo albums with snapshots all from one family from the 1920s to 1950s. I was, of course, interested in the lot, and hoped it wouldn't go for too high of a price. It didn't. It closed at $25, but without my...

The Future of Photography Books: Printing Photographers’ Legacies

In many things, what used to be is no more. This is true in the state of published photography monographs. We used to gauge a photographer's worth by their printed output. Those wonderful photographic monographs. Robert Frank's The Americans. Stephen Shore's American Surfaces. William Eggleston's Guide (which is actually by John Szarkowski.) That model has...

Photographs Made! Not Shot, Not Captured, Not Taken Nor Snared

I make photographs. Sometimes that involves photographing news events, life on the street, and other times people posing for my lens for a portrait. But all those photographs are made. I make an effort to create an image the way I want to, using photographic and compositional techniques as well as my experience on how...