“We Want a Portrait, Not a Snapshot”

Some days are better than others as a professional photographer. Like today, for instance. A prospective client called looking for a portrait of her family members and mentioned her husband was a graduate of a prestigious art and photography school some years ago, and he's since retired his cameras, but she was looking for a...

Street Portraits on a Nothing-Happening Street Photo Day

What is is about street portraits? They can be a great way to create photos in public when we're not finding street documentary moments that are catching our eye. Especially if you see some interesting characters and faces. I define a portrait as one where the subject is aware of the camera and is connecting...

Addendum: Photo Contests

I was recently at an gallery opening of photographs with the theme of portraiture.  And there were walls full of beautiful portraits in many different poses and situations in a well-lit gallery show. Some natural, documentary style.  Some set up, posed, created. The show was phenomenal.  A beautiful representation of many different styles of portraiture....

Photographs Lost: Buried in the Sand by the Digital Undertow

More people are experiencing the glut of photography. It's everywhere, it's instant, it's disposable, and that's exactly where it goes--away. CHILDHOOD MEMORIES I remember when I was a kid, we had professional portraits made every year, and our family would make family portraits that would line the wall alongside the staircase. And all my friends,...

A Challenge To Shoot Film

I keep running into people who see my old Leica IIIf over my shoulder and marvel that they still make film.  And that it is readily available.  I assure them it is. I have a standard response to their "I have a great old camera that I never use."  I tell them to just put...

We Lost The Magic When Digital Took Over Film

Digital is nothing magical.  It’s perfectly good at recording, but the magic is gone compared to the days of film. There’s something about the waiting that made film photography more special.  The time created anticipation which allowed us to forget the details of the moment, and relive it when we finally saw the film and...

Exercise, Ah, Not My Favorite Word

Exercise in and of itself doesn't excite me.  But I like riding my bike or going for a walk, but just don't call it exercise.  I like to get active with a camera around my neck, walking up and down the Pearl St. Mall in Boulder, or the alleys behind it, or the 16th St....

Vintage Cameras Meetup

This is what I saw one day walking on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, and I had to get a photo of her.  And the camera operator, too! Carrying my Rolleiflex, I asked if I could take her portrait.  She immediately recognized the coolness of my picture machine, and said yes. That's a vintage...

The Power of a Rolleiflex to Start Conversations and Meet Strangers

Carrying a Rolleiflex around, people come up to you to talk about it.  And you can approach people with the line, "Can I take your photo, I have this old camera I'm shooting," which is the 100% complete truth, and people will let you.  It's a great ice breaker.  That's how the image at right...

6×6, 35mm, 6×7, and 4×5, too! A Multi-Formatted Film Shooter

So, while this blog is titled 6x6 Portraits, I have a variety of interests in different film formats, not just 6x6.  I have a love for Leica 35mm, too, and shoot regularly with an M3, M6 and IIIf.  The photo at left was the first shot made with my first Leica in 2010, an M6...